An Oxford revenge by Faith Martin writing as Maxine Barry.
Davina Granger wants revenge. She blames Dr Gareth Lacey for her brother’s suicide. When she gets a fellowship at his Oxford college, she finally has her chance to punish him. But her plan never included falling in love with him.
Very good read. Good story. I wasnt sure how I felt about Davina. I did enjoy the ending. Faith is one of my favourite authors. I hope there is more to come. 4*.

This ended up being quite different to what I had expected, having only read a couple of Faith Martin "Monica Noble" books. Those are a series of cozy mysteries; the amateur detecting done by a vicar's wife, with some (odd to me) interjections of lusty thoughts from a senior detective and Monica.
This was a tale of a woman poet who seeks revenge on the man, an Oxford don, she believes led her step-brother to suicide. There is also a sister-plot about a young woman hailing from a wealthy and academic family who whips up an original play for a boy she likes, and then works with him to produce it.
Umm... I thought the author's writing in the Monica Noble series could be rather repetitive and awkwardly phrased, but she does write a page turning plot. This one reads more like... fan fiction? Bodice ripper?
Hyperbolic physical descriptions of super, super, dazzlingly attractive women and men, and their sexual encounters just doesn't do it for me. Apologies.

I requested and received a free ebook copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley.

An Oxford Revenge by Faith Martin, writing as Maxine Barry, was very different than her other books. Thank you Netgalley for the early access. The book's main theme, as the title hints, is about revenge. There were a few different plots intertwined. The idea of a writer who gets to write the introduction for an anthology of poems was pretty neat, but her main focus seemed to be revenge. It was kinda hard to relate to, as that's not who I am. It wasn't really my style of writing, but I'm sure others would like it.

Faith Martin's new book as Maxine Barry, An Oxford Revenge is a light, breezy read. Davina Granger, an acclaimed poet, gorgeous woman is distraught. Her beloved step-brother has committed suicide and in one of his letters to her, had mentioned how Dr. Gareth Lacey, his English professor at Oxford was tormenting him.

Granger relocates to Oxford on a fellowship with the sole intention of taking revenge on Dr Gareth Lacey. Will she succeed in this mission of hers forms the rest of the story. In a substantial sub plot, the author takes us through the story of Alicia Norman, a shy girl from a sheltered, privileged family as she navigates her way and finds her own path in Oxford.

Romance with a touch of mystery is what this book offers to give and it does very well. The pace is fast and the author doesn't waste time in too many digressions. I picked up this book expecting to read a Faith Martin book. While the author's characteristic flair of writing comes through, it is still not what I was expecting, mainly because. it is leaning more towards romance than mystery,

An overall light, quick, pleasant time-pass read.

I like Faith Martin's books and this re-issue of an older title was enjoyable if predictable. There are two plot strands which could perhaps have been more intertwined but they were both interesting. The author's real strength here is in her characterisation. Davina and Alicia are very different personalities and their development makes for a good story.

Like Paris anything with Oxford in the title, I seem to gravitate to! I love the scenic beauty of Oxford as depicted in the mystery series Lewis and earlier Morse so this was a good choice for me.

The story of straightforward revenge on a tutor at Oxford because he supposedly was responsible for her brother's death is the bottom line. As the story progresses, we realize that revenge is not as sweet as it should have been for Davina and that the tables are slowly turning on her as the story progresses.

I liked the depiction of Oxford and all its traditions but the story left me disappointed.

I liked this book a lot--at first I didn't understand why there were two stories we were following but they tied together nicely. I really liked the Oxford setting and the ending surprised me in a good way!

Having read many of Faith Martin's previous novels I was interested and delighted to see this deviation in style.
There is the same attention to character detail but with a much darker more grown up undercurrent.
The two counter stories work well together and although separate you can see the parallels in the relationships between the two students and the poet hell bent on revenge against the enthralling professor she blames for her tragic loss.
Excellent book which I completed in one sitting.

This book focuses on Gavina who is determined to get revenge on Gareth because she blames him for her brothers suicide. She gets a fellowship at Oxford and thinks that's her chance to punish him but she never thought she would fall for him. I went in thinking it's a thriller but it turned out to be a romance mostly.

This is a stand alone novel written by Faith Martin under the pen name of Maxine Barry. While the writing is, as usual, technically excellent and the character descriptions are vivid and full three dimensional, I still didn’t enjoy the book. It is not a mystery novel, the genre in which Martin has garnered much acclaim, but rather something like a modern day romance novel with some fairly graphic erotic passages scattered about.
The story itself holds together well, and the pacing is good, it simply isn’t my kind of book. In part, that is because I enjoy Martin as a mystery writer, and was hoping for something in the vein. Also, although I read other types of fiction, in the ones I enjoy I find at least some characters I like and that didn’t happen here. While I might have liked Dr. Gareth Lacey, certainly he displayed some empathy and positive personality traits, he didn’t have enough of the book focused on him to pull me along. The central character, Davina, rather than being a tragic heroine because of a past occurrence, comes across as a bitter, sharp, moral-less individual who justifies her actions because she is seeking revenge.
There is some benefit in reading this book to get an idea of how to fashion a character, and how to plot and pace a novel; but beyond that I’m not sure if there is a group of people to whom I would recommend this novel. My thanks to Joffe Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced digital read copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love mysteries (cosy or dark) and I love romances but it's rare to come across a novel that mixes both genres.  I loved how refreshing this cross over was and I really enjoyed reading this.  I think having both genres together added a little uncertainty to the direction of the plot and this suited me fine - I love surprises. 

 Maxine (Faith) always has a detailed way to describe characters and really brings them to life.  I found that The main protagonists Davina and Alice were well developed and described.  I did struggle to place the time this novel was set in as it is quite prim and proper but a small clue revealed it to be the noughties.  I loved how the main characters are both intelligent female and I do feel Maxine flies the flag for realistic 'girl power' in her novels.     

I've never been to Oxford (pretty sure the university would never let me in) but I love the description of the campus and surrounding areas and a glimpse of life inside a high ranking university.  I always felt it was a totally different life to my student days.  The vivid description really helped paint a picture in my head and created an atmosphere of hustle and bustle. 

If you are reading a book for complete realism then this may not tickle your fancy but if you're willing to go with the flow of a revenge mystery the this plot is thoroughly enjoyable.  There's the added bonus of almost two plots weaving in and out of each other.  Davina is set on revenge for her brother's suicide and really doesn't plan for what happens.  Alicia has found love with a fellow student but comes under scrutiny form her family who are determined for her to take a different path.  How far will they go to block Alicia's choices? 

Overall this is an entertaining romance/mystery and has a really gentle story telling feel.  The characters and setting are well developed and suck you into this story.  Recommended for cosy mystery lovers who like something a little different.

An Oxford Revenge by Maxine Barry (Faith Martin using her pen name). This is as her previous book The Lying Game, written under the same name, a different genre than she usually writes. For some people it can be hard to get to grips with when they are used to a certain person writing a certain genre. I definitely enjoyed this book for what it is, more romance than anything else.
Davina Granger is out for revenge. Her brother has died from suicide and she blames one person, Dr Gareth Lacey. She gains a fellowship at Oxford College where Gareth teaches with one aim in mind, revenge. What she hasn't counted on is falling in love with him!
A great read with a good ending too. I for one, like Maxine's style of writing in these books and am hoping Faith will bring Maxine back for more of these type of stories! With thanks to Joffe books and Netgalley for the ARC to take part in this blog tour.

I am a big fan of Faith Martin, so I'm sorry to say how disappointed I was with this book. I found all the main characters to be rather superficial, not really much of a mystery - which I had been expecting.

It's entertaining but I was expecting a mystery not a romance.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I always look forward to a Faith Martin book, and I never thought that I would say a Faith Martin book wasn't for me, but this was the one. I love her mysteries, but this is a romance. It's well written and interesting in its own way - just not for me.

Not my cup of tea.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read an advance copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Oh, dear! I'm not surprised that Faith Martin chose to use a pen name for 'An Oxford Revenge'. I can't imagine it did anything positive for her reputation as a writer of mysteries and whodunits.

Davina is a beautiful and passionate woman, allegedly so good at poetry that she is introduced to the staff and students at St Bede's College, Oxford as "recently ....shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature". Let'stake a moment to consider the ridiculousness of that, shall we? The Nobel Prize is given for an author's life work. The youngest writer ever to get the prize was Rudyard Kipling in his 40s and most winners are decades older. So what? Well, it sets the scene for just how silly this book is likely to get.

As I was saying, famous feminist poet, Davina has finagled her way into a one-term post at St Bede's, the college where her younger step-brother David was so unhappy that he killed himself, pinning the blame on his English tutor, Gareth Lacey. Davina's mission is to destroy the man who destroyed her step-brother but she hasn't factored in that Lacey is basically sex-on-legs - a sort of intellectual Poldark who turns her brains to jelly and her innards to water. Despite wanting revenge and plotting to destroy him, she's out of her undies quicker than you can say "Excuse me". Now, I'm not unwilling to believe in animal magnetism and fierce attraction, but this requires a degree of suspended belief that goes well beyond my capabilities.

"The hot moistness between her legs felt like fire. Her nipples, pressed against his dark blue jacket, suddenly stiffened with sensitivity, growing harder with every minute movement he made".

Seriously, pass me the application for the Bad Sex Awards. It's all horribly squelchy and completely ignores that she's supposed to hate him. And even when she's 'in love', it doesn't stop her carrying out her fiendish plans for revenge.

There is a nicer, gentler love story running in parallel between some students who are putting on a play. That's less squelchy but still requires you to take on a Jane Austen-like plotline about stately homes and inheritance scams.

I guess my second biggest question would be "Where's the mystery?" and my biggest question "WHY did you do it Faith?"

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This book wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I was looking more for a mystery and ended up with a romance. It’s not that I’m against romance novels, I actually quite enjoy them but when I’m expecting one thing and get something else, it can be a bit disappointing. It’s like picking up your drink and thinking it’s Tea when in Actuality it’s a Coke, both good drinks but one just isn’t as satisfying as the other at that time. Overall the book just didn’t scratch the itch for me. It’s not that it’s bad book it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

Davina Grainger, famous poet is reeling from the death of her step-brother David. Davina is out for revenge because she believes Oxford Professor Gareth Lacey drove David to the depths of despair and suicide. Taking a position for a few months at Oxford will allow her to meet Lacey and seek revenge but when she meets him and realizes how attractive he is she is uncertain how to proceed.
I usually faithfully read Faith Martin's book about HIlary Greene but I didn't find this book to be the same quality as her other novels. I just wasn't concerned enough for Davina's character to hope or care about her and I stopped reading as soon as she met Gareth and lost interest in reading the rest of the book.

Well known poet, Davina Granger has secured a terms fellowship at St. Bute's in Oxford. Davina is ot there to study, she's there to take revenge on Dr. Gareth Lacey, an English Literature Don. Davina believes he is responsible for her step- brothers suicide.

Alice Norman comes from a privileged literary family. She is also studying at St. Butes. She's been asked to help,writ the Easter play by her housemate, Emily and director, Jareed Cowan. Alice and Jarred are attracted to each other. But there's someone else who also has their eye on Alice.

I'm not a fan of romantic mystery story's but when I seen that this was written y Faith Martin, I knew I would enjoy it. This is an easy book to read. The characters are well rounded and believable. As always with Faith Martin, the book is well written and descriptive. For me, it was a quick and easy book to read. I throughly enjoyed this first novel written by Maxine Barry aka Faith Martin.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Joffe Books and the author Maxine Barry for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a long time fan of Faith Martin's murder mysteries so when I saw "An Oxford revenge" described as a mix of romance and mystery/suspense I decided to give it a go in spite of romance not being one of my favorite genres (and let's be honest, if the word "revenge" is in the title I'm always down for it. I'm that easy). I was even warned by the author on Twitter that the emphasis on this one was on romance and was she right! There's no mystery/suspense at all but a revenge driven love affair plot that was quite predictable from the beginning and, at some points, quite implausible.

One of the motives I don't like so much the romance genre is because I think it tends to be riddled with cheesy dialogue that would never occur in real life and there were some lines here that certainly made my eyes roll sooo bad.

Once again I found a bit disconcerting not being able to date the time period the story is taking place in (I encountered this same problem with some previous novels from this author). As soon as it reads as it could be set today there are some descriptions that makes you think it could be set in the 80s or even the 60s (there were some quite old fashioned ways of thinking). So confusing!

Although not being quite my cup of tea I was able to finish it in just a few hours so at least the story managed to catch my attention all the way till the end. From now on I think I will stick to her murder mysteries.

2,5/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.