Reading Update: Page 1

A mid-week pick-me-up/comfort Mac & cheese and book I’ve heard great things about.
Look at that little floofy pup on the cover!

An Alaskan Christmas by Jennifer Snow purchase link

Slow cooker mac & cheese recipe

One of my fav mac&cheese recipes. A smidgen salty to me but so cheesy comfort goodness.

Review: This Earl of Mine

This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.7 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

There were worse places to find a husband than Newgate Prison.

Georgiana is desperate to keep herself, her fortune, and her father's shipping company out of her cousin Josiah's hands. Deciding that marrying a condemned convict, quickly making her a widow and gaining more power over her finances, is the best way to do this, she ends up meeting Benedict Wylde in Newgate.
A Bow Street Runner undercover as a smuggler, Benedict allows himself to be taken prisoner so that he can try and get some information out of his cellmate. With an Earl older brother trying to save the family holdings because of a father who gambled away the family fortune, he's in constant need of money. An heiress demanding he marry her but also making him sign a contract saying he can't touch her money, in the bowels of Newgate, seems almost Faustian.

First in the Bow Street Bachelors series, This Earl of Mine did a great job of hitting all the, somewhat becoming overused Regency London sights, Vauxhall and balls, and giving some new blood details like a submarine. The heroine Georgiana inherited control of her father's shipping company but reader's don't really get to see her in the roll, she spouts off nautical knowledge but for the most part, it was left to the side. Our hero Benedict is a second son who joined the Rifles and fought Napoleon, again a detail added to his character that could have used some coloring in. The first half of these two meeting and testing each other was an enjoyable warming story to fall into but the middle dragged with lack of sparks and the ending brought the focus on a Napoleon plot that never felt entwined with the characters, giving the story a lack of emotion.

“What if we don’t keep our marriage quiet?”

I thought the details of our leads was interesting, Georgiana running the shipping company and trying to fend off her cousin and Benedict having fought for the Rifles, owning a gaming hell with his friends, and now a Bow Street Runner. While the details were there, the coloring in was absent. I thought the author did a great job giving us the setting but the characters fell flat for me. If you read a good amount of Regency historical romance, you won't find much new here (except for the submarine!) and the lack of emotion breathed into the story was disappointing. There were also some plot points that didn't quite tie together; there being no prisoners condemned to die on the night Georgiana shows up, why the prisoner guard would go to Georgiana's cousin Josiah, and even some of the marriage plot of reasons given to keep it a secret and then not keep it a secret.

“I see you,” he said softly.

I usually bemoan series baiting characters but I actually thought Benedict's two friends, who are also partners in their gaming hell, could have shown up more, would have liked to have scenes showcasing their friendship and even Georgiana and her family, her sister and mother ended up feeling like caricatures. There is still no denying that the author has a very readable flow to her writing and there were moments between Georgiana and Benedict that flashed but for the most part, this felt like a shell of a story. I'll be looking for plot points that meld together better and more emotion and feeling in the next installment.

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Reading Update: Page 1

Sunday eating and reading!

This shrimp dish has Guinness in it! Hope it pairs well with this Bow Street Bachelor...

This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman purchase link

Spicy Beer Shrimp

The tomato taste overpowered for me but I did love the Guinness taste in there.

Review: Don't You Forget About Me

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

He chewed his pen and gave me a guarded smile. Something and everything had changed. I didn’t know yet that small moments can be incredibly large.

Don't You Forget About Me is a moving standalone that I would consider women's fiction with about 15% that could be considered romance. Told completely from Georgina's point of view, we're introduced to her on a night she gets fired from her waitress job and catches her boyfriend cheating on her.

So Lucas is now a grown-up who owns and runs places. I’m thirty and begging to work in them. The indignity.

Through Georgina's reminiscing, reader's learn that she was a typical student just wanting to be liked and that she had a secret romance with a bit of an outcast named Lucas the last year of school. On a night that was supposed to end up special for her and Lucas, something happened and they ended up never speaking again, until Georgina's brother-in-law gets her a job at a pub Lucas and his brother are newly opening. Lucas behaves toward her like he doesn't know who she is and even though that breaks her heart, Georgina pretends they never met too.

I shake my head and fight to get control of my vocal cords. “I’m writing about my worst day at school for a writing competition at the pub,” I gasp. “And I know they want something funny and light and easy. But my worst day at school. It was terrible. I think it might’ve ruined my life.”

I somewhat struggled with the first half of the book. Georgina's inner musings dominate and the tone from her reads a bit hyper, distraught, and rambling. Georgina's life is laid out, with her feeling like a failure, still dealing with dad's death, friends, and family issues; it's more structure of our lead character's world. This made it at times plodding for me to get through but when towards the middle when Georgina is settled working at the pub, starting to deal and interact with family, friends, and starting to write by competing in a stand-up performance at the pub, this opens the story up and Georgina interacts with the outside world more, bring in more emotion.

The price of keeping the secret, it was too high to keep paying.

While I would give the first half 2-3 stars, the second half is 5 stars all the way, rarely have I read a story that packs such emotional punches. In the beginning, Georgina hints at what happened her last night of school, I'm sure most will guess, but the second half she lays it out there and the author did a beautiful job of writing Georgina's emotions as she confronts, deals, and shares such an impactful night of her life. Secondary characters, like her friends and family, are brought even more in and the emotional ties between them added so much to the story. This also helps to bring Lucas even more into play and the later half is where there is a stronger romance genre feel. These two don't have a lot of moments together but you'll feel and remember each and every one.

Sometimes the truth is messy and difficult but it isn’t always best left. Sometimes it saves you.

This story is about all the laughter that hides the pain and relationships that can weaken and strengthen you. Georgina started off a little bit left of center character with a circle of family that brought messy emotional ties, friends that supported her and pushed her, and a first love that acted like he didn't know who she was. As this was more women's fiction, Lucas' character was lacking a bit in feeling completely filled out but the way he shows up in the end came pretty close to making up for it for me. I would have liked more of Keith the dog and the beginning to be cleaned up in terms of flowing better but the second half was pretty close to perfection. If you're wanting a story to make you feel, Don't You Forget About Me packs a heck of an emotional punch that will have you smiling through your tears.

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Review: The Virgin and the Rogue

The Virgin and the Rogue by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

How do I feel about the title, can't really answer that. But broke a nail clicking on the cover to enlarge.

To be polite about it, I'm a cover looky-lou and this is on my to-read list for that alone.

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Reading Update: Page 1

Snuggled in with sloppy joes and a good book on this cold and blustery day.

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane purchase link

Buffalo Chicken Sloppy Joes recipe
These are a fav I love making, the blue cheese sauce adds great taste.

Review: Angel in a Devil's Arms

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

What mattered was she was standing, and that was very much in spite of the men who had populated her life.

Readers first met Angelique in Lady Derring Takes a Lover, first in The Palace of the Rogues series. A mysterious man had just arrived when we left the series and Angel in a Devil's Arms picks right up from that. It wouldn't be hard to start the series here, you'd miss emotional foundations between Angelique and Delilah (Angelique was Delilah's husband's mistress) but the author does a good job of revisiting Angelique's background and the romance between our leads starts here.

“I’ve had all manner of experiences and known all manner of people . . . I believe I can say with some authority that people become who they are more because of the pain they experience than the pleasure. And you, my friend, I do believe you carry about your pain the way you might carry eggs in your apron.”

Angelique popped off the pages for me in the first book and I was highly anticipating her story. Almost all of the story takes place in the inn she runs with Delilah and except for a slight revenge plot, this story is focused on character driven and the relationship between Angelique and Lucien. If you're a reader of Long, you'll know how beautifully she can turn a phrase and describe emotion, for example: He paused. She would not be surprised if it was because he heard her heart beating. He’d toyed with the rhythm of its since they met. He ought to know it the way a violinist knows his own instrument. Gorgeous writing. The story has many sentences like this, but I still ending up feeling a lack of connection between our couple.

Imagine a woman who could shorten his breath and blank his mind with just one curve of her lips.

Our hero Lucien was born a bastard but his Duke father started off very loving until he married and then he shunned Lucien and his mother. Lucien started to act out for attention which caused his step-mother to be embarrassed about him and possibly is behind assailants pushing him into the Thames. He gets rescued by a passing ship and ends up sailing the seas for ten years. We're told this and I think I needed some flashbacks of his time surviving, fighting, and building himself up to feel closer to his character. A developing relationship between Lucien and his half brother helped to add layers to Lucien's character and I can't help but already wish for the half brother's book. However, there wasn't anything that really stood out for me with his character and Lucien ended up feeling pretty benign.

But what surprised her most was the gratitude for everything, including all the heartbreaks, upheavals, betrayals she’d so far known. The wrong men had simply prepared her to recognize the right one. The seemingly wrong turns had led her precisely to where she wished to be.

When Angelique and Lucien are together, they do have some good byplay but the sparks just weren't there enough for me. The bedroom scenes were there but felt strangely short and rushed for what Long usually writes. A revenge plot ends up sputtering out and I just don't think the characters and their relationship was strong enough to carry the character driven focus. Angelique and Delilah have screen time together, more towards the end and I missed feeling their connection like I did in the first. The inn's guest are all here again and provide some comedic relief but secondary characters couldn't make up for the lack of punch I was missing between our leads.

Living one’s truth, it seemed, was more liberating than the false safety of no emotion or no risk. It was just so much easier to do when you knew you were loved.

Long has talent and skill for writing and describing human emotions and complexities beautifully and truthfully, but the breadth of the romantic relationship between Angelique and Lucien was missing for me. The epilogue sweetly sets up the next couple in the series and I'll definitely be reading it and hoping the setting can leave the inn more and our main couple will have more scope to their relationship.

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50%

She knew full well that some wounds could not be vanquished. Some old wounds never did heal and you just learned to adjust them, the way you would adjust a burden on a long journey.

Reading Update: Page 1

I love the look of the heroine but the hero and his awkward torso are, awkward.

Loved Angelique in the first book and excited to finally read her story!

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long purchase link

Salted Caramel Rice Pudding recipe

As you can imagine super rich but so so good. I used 1% so a bit more soupy but second night leftovers absorbed more. Perfect rich dessert to read romance with.

Review: Nothing to Fear

Nothing to Fear by Juno Rushdan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Someone in his unit, someone they trusted with their lives, had murdered a suspect in custody— here in the ultrasecure facility right under their noses.

The Gray Box is a so deep undercover organization in the US government that even people in the know don't know about it, and they have a mole. The first in the series, Every Last Breath, introduced us to the Gray Box and the men and women working to keep America safe. The idea of a possibility of a mole is talked about there and by the end confirmed, Nothing to Fear is the story of Gideon, known as Reaper, going rogue to protect one of their programmers and hackers, Willow, from being set-up by the mole. You could start the series here but you'd miss out on the foundation of character relationships and the author does such a great job of constructing the plot that I think it is worth it to read the series in order.

When he looked at her, he didn’t see a target or a mission. Only an exquisite woman, tender and sweet, ready to open herself. She was giving him the precious gift of her trust— a miracle and a mistake inextricably tangled.

Nothing to Fear was just about a non-stop action ride that I highly enjoyed. As this is romantic suspense, I do think the romance could have been a bit stronger but if you enjoy action and a strong plot, this is a must read. For me, not completely feeling Gideon's character contributed to the romance not feeling as strong. He's infused with more emotional bearing than the typical alpha males in this sub-genre but the slower reveal of his background kept me from knowing him. At the end there was also a bit too much, “I'm not good enough for her/I'm too damaged” that starts to feel angst for angst sake after reading the majority of the story where the couple has already fallen in love. Our heroine Willow felt more like a complete character and her always feeling like an outcast because of being on the spectrum will tug at some hearts.

The power she had, to have him unraveling with a look.

This is the second book I've read by this author and while I've enjoyed the lead romances, I think where this author really shines is her ability to construct these twisty turn-y, high action plots carried out by main characters you want to fall in love and secondary characters you become wildly impatient to read their books. The concept of a super secret government group isn't new to the romantic suspense world but I do feel this author is top notch at pulling it off. The ending conclusion and wrap-up on some of the mole plot was a little rushed (the main baddie had a background that I would have actually liked explored more) but for the vast majority I was locked into the action and flew through this book.

If you like romantic suspense, I highly recommend this series. The romance does take a backseat at times but you'll find yourself invested in all the characters and the engaging plots. I can't wait for the next in the series.

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