Review: Foolish Hearts

Foolish Hearts by Synithia Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 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. 

She'd toyed with him. Used him to make her ex jealous, and by the time she realized she was falling for Russell, it was too late. 

Fourth in the Jackson Falls series, Foolish Hearts is a book that you could jump into the series with, like I did, but the beginning will have you realizing that you're missing out on some family and friend relationship background. I never felt lost but there was some missing context with relationships and the foundation for the town of Jackson Falls, the Robidoux family, and their big corporation. Ashiya's mother is a Robidoux but Ashiya never wanted to be a part of their competitive and cutthroat world working in the company, she instead started her own consignment clothing business, Piece Together, and while she is friends with her all her cousins, does her own thing. Russell at one time was secretly dating Ashiya and fell for her hard but heartbreakingly learned that Ashiya was only using him to make her ex jealous and get him to take her back. He's managed to mainly avoid her for the last three years since their break-up but as he's working towards being CEO of Robidoux Holdings it's getting harder. 

Her voice was one of the things that had gotten him from the start. Soft, and teasing. Like the caress of cotton or silk across his skin whenever she laughed or spoke his name. 

The first half of the book will have most of your sympathies with Russell, as he was treated fairly bad by Ashiya, using him to make her ex jealous and then trying to emotionally manipulate him to spend time with her as she is trying to get him back. The second half will have you soften towards Ashiya as more of her childhood is revealed and we learn how she internalized her parents' rocky relationship. Ashiya's mother married her father for the large corporation his mother owned and when she gets called a gold digger for it and her husband gets disowned and shunned from the family, she pushes Ashiya's father away. The two never get divorced because Ashiya's father didn't want her to grow-up without a father but the distance, emotional manipulation, and coldness is felt by Ashiya growing up. This sets the stage for how Ashiya acts in her relationships and why she handled it the way she did the first time she started dating Russell and then to the present when she is trying to get him back. I can see some feeling less charitable towards her character but the second half gives the material to draw more empathy for her. Russell's character was the combination of sweet and strong that will have readers firmly in his corner and swooning. 

He'd only wanted to find someone he could love and trust. 

What draws these characters together for their second chance romance is Ashiya's grandmother on her father's side dying and listing Ashiya in her will as sole beneficiary and leaving Ashiya as chairperson and majority holder in her company. It's at first something Ashiya doesn't want, she's worked to escape that world from her mother's side but when she shows up to reject the will readings, her cousin Levi, who has been mostly running the company, gets in her face about being a gold digger like her mother. Ashiya decides to show him and everyone she can run a company. Ashiya goes to her cousin who runs Robidoux Holdings, asking for some help and guidance but her cousin directs Russell to help Ashiya. Russell is told it's because the cousin is considering him for CEO and needs to know she can trust him and as Russell really wants the CEO job, because of the money and power that will come with it, he agrees to go to Hilton Head to help Ashiya. This also helps and brings in the side story going involving the disappearance of Russell's brother fifteen years ago when he went to Hilton Head for spring break. A new detective is on the cold case and Russell wants to personally talk to him and maybe do a little investigation himself, why he wants the CEO position so bad, he will be in a power position to make people pay attention to his brother's case. 

He'd begged her to stay and she'd still walked away. She'd been such a fool. 

As you can tell, there are some major threads going on, the second chance romance, Ashiya's immediate and outer family drama, Ashiya inheriting a company, and Russell still trying to find out what happened to his brother years ago. Towards the latter second half there was also some embezzlement mystery from Ashiya's new company that tied in but, yeah, there was a good amount going on. I thought it all held together but I did think Ashiya and Russell's building relationship took a hit because of everything else going on. There were a few flashbacks to show us these two in love but I missed more of the emotion building blocks, I want to know and see the hows and whys of the falling in love, it's about going on the journey with them for me; second chance can sometimes give us less of the journey because of the nature of the trope. I thought this second time around I got a lot of lusting from Ashiya and a lot of wariness from Russell until the latter second half where I thought we got better looks at their friendship and emotional connection. 

Ashiya suppressed a smile and the spark of hope glowing hotter in her chest. He still felt something. He might not want to, but he did. 

Russell stole the show for me a little bit because of how sweet he was and how his vulnerability showed through him not wanting to open his heart up again to Ashiya, I felt his broken heart. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how steamy this couple was, too. I feel I talk enough about too many sex scenes but this story had a good amount in the second half and because they fit the couple, they fit the story and actually enhanced this couple for me. Look, when they got interrupted the first time I wanted to reach into the pages and shove the barging character out the door and the kitchen table scene was definitely not a waste. 

His hand pushed the hair back from her face. He rested his forehead on hers and locked eyes with her. 

I would have liked to have seen more of this couple's beginning falling in love, maybe one of the story threads taken out, and more time given to Russell's brother's cold case, especially because of how much of an emotional punch it gives at the end. Ashiya and Russell did deliver on the steamy and ended up giving me one of the most grown-up, mature relationship talks that gave their coming together an even more satisfying feel. I'll be going back to check out the beginning of the series and will be on the lookout to see if Ashiya's cousin Levi gets a wake up call to pay more attention to Ashiya's late grandmother's assistant Brianna.

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Review: I'm Only Wicked with You

I'm Only Wicked with You by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 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. 

But when Lady Lillias Vaughn had emerged into view from the dusty twilight of an unfinished part of the Annex at The Grand Palace on the Thames, he’d been struck dumb. 

Picking right up where readers of the The Palace of the Rogues series left off in Angel in a Devil's Arms, this third installment gives us the continuation of all that tension between two guests at The Grand Palace on the Thames inn. Lady Lillias is the daughter of an Earl staying at the inn with her family while her home is being searched for a snake her older brother brought home after winning in a poker game and a hole in the wall from her father who shot at said snake is being repaired. She's been the toast of the season but oddly seems cold and aloof and dreading a ball coming up in two weeks. Hugh Cassidy is an American who can't even trace his lineage beyond his grandfather and seems to being holding his true reason for being in England close to his vest. He finds Lillias smoking and tattles to her father, which has her punishment being grounded to the inn. There the more time Lillias and Hugh spend with each other the brighter the tension burns between them and speaking glances start to say a lot. 

Never had a silent conversation been louder than the one he was conducting with Lady Lillias Vaughn. 

This is the third book in the series and after the first two, I was hoping we could move outside of the inn's walls, that doesn't happen here. The first half is solidly at the inn and the first 30% is fairly slow moving and we spend ample time with, albeit, old favorites like the heroines from the first two books and a handful of scenes with their counterparts, the ever contributing to the swear jar Mr. Delacourte, and sweet Dot. All characters that bring charm to the story but I found myself straining to break the leash to the inn and venture into new territory. Around 40% is when there is significant movement on the beginning's slow bringing together of Lillias and Hugh. I much appreciated how Long kept the historical feel in their tension; shielded conversations that are pointed and looks that burn in crowded parlors. This added to the tension and gave that sense of building snapping restraint to the two, which is the feeling I'm looking for when reading a historical. 

He met her eyes. It was warning, an apology . . . and, after a fashion . . . a promise. 

Fifty percent is where I thought the story picked up more and we get our forced into engagement because of caught in flagrante delicto. At this point, the reader does feel the attraction between the two and while I wouldn't say the depth is incredible, these two don't know each other enough yet, it definitely feels hot to the touch; their chemistry isn't in question but it falls more on the lust side. Long has an incredible ability to deliver lines between characters that make you feel and this couple stood out from the world because they did snap and pop. But, I fear that at times they stood out so much was because the world wasn't as much there this time, the over-trodden ground of The Grand Palace on the Thames with it's many conversations in the beginning really had me chomping at the bit to be free. I found myself daydreaming about how cool it would have been to have the story moved to Hugh's home in America, the Hudson Valley. 

It was difficult to align the complicated things he felt with the proper words. So he said the truest thing he could, slowly and softly. “I should hate for any harm to ever come to you.” 

Even though our couple is engaged at 50%, they still think they might be in love with other people into the second half of the story. Hugh is in England to find the daughter of his mentor and who he thinks he is going to marry and Lillias is devastated that her childhood friend might not love her the way she loves him. A plan gets developed by Hugh to help Lillias' friend realize his love for her and there is some nice emotional cracking by Hugh but Lillias spends too much time in her head with this. I wanted Lillias to stand-up and choose Hugh to take that control but their final coming together ended up feeling more flat because Lillias didn't make the move I wanted from her. 

Together they turned that kiss into something furious and desperate, a clash fueled by futility and the forbidden. 

As always, Long gave me lines and emotions that hit hard, and a surprising one that hit me almost the hardest was Lillias' father saying this after Hugh is forced to offer for Lillias: “You could do much worse than young Mr. Cassidy. I rather wish he was my own son.”. It hit hard because Hugh doesn't have much family, lost his mother younger and his father and brother died in the war, and this English Earl saw the good man he was, made my eyes water a bit for Hugh. Other secondary characters like Lillias' sister and brother added some filler to the story and the standbys at the inn probably took up too much time in the beginning. Like I said, I think a different setting, especially if the Hudson Valley had been utilized could have really brought a sense of freshness and adventure to this story. The epilogue was longer and had a wrap-up feel enough that I do wonder if we are finally going to leave the main setting of the Grand Palace on the Thames, we also get a glance at Lillias and Hugh's happily ever after in America. As it was, the beginning was pretty slow but Lillias and Hugh's burning tension saved the second half for me. Their story was one of the difference between living a fine life and full life and I hope someday we can visit their children in the Hudson.

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Good morning!

 

Came back from vacation to find this lovely bookstack waiting for me 😍 

It's a wonderful mixture of newer and past published. 

So excited for the reissue of Lucky In Love and Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis. Head Over Heels is one of my favorite comfort reads! 

Hope everyone is having as beautiful weekend morning❤

Purchase Links:

When a Rogue Meets His Match by Elizabeth Hoyt

A Rogue to Remember by Emily Sullivan

One Lucky Day by Jill Shalvis

West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters

Reading Update: Page 1

 

Mid-afternoon snack and jumping into a new series 🤩 

This releases tomorrow and my vacation starts tomorrow, what a great day ❤ 

Enjoy the week, everyone!

Foolish Hearts by Synithia Williams order link

Bell Pepper Nachos recipe

Reading Update: 20%

 

Celebrating this gorgeous Sunday with an early lunch and saying hi to old and new friends at The Grand Palace on the Thames 🥰 

I may have slightly burned my beans 😭 but nothing Long's words can't help soothe.

I'm Only Wicked With You by Julie Anne Long preorder (Aug 24) link

Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Rice Bowls

I wasn't the biggest fan of the tastes going on here but again, slightly burned beans lol.

Review: Battle Royal

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 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. 

Sylvie Fairchild was a contestant on a baking competition show, Operation Cake, where her tasty and whimsical bakes clashed with the uptight and proper style of judge Dominic De Vere. She was about to make the finals when her unicorn cake exploded and Dominic got a hoof to the head, he not so surprisingly voted her off. Four years later she has a patisserie shop called Sugar Fair right across the street from established De Vere's and has been asked to be one of the judges on Operation Cake. The friction is still there between Sylvie and Dominic but with the grumpy and sunshine clash, there is a gruff and soft attraction. With a reality show to judge, a royal wedding contract to win, bakery espionage, family drama, and other life realities to live, Sylvie and Dominic keep finding themselves drawn by outside and inside influences. 

And just for that instant, beneath the unflappable chill, she saw a flash of startlement and something...else. 

Battle Royal is first in the Palace Insiders series and that is why I'm going to cut it a little slack on the amount of story here; a new universe for readers is being built. Usually, romances seem to want to build the focus to be the destination, our leads finally being in love. This is much more about the journey. Yes, our leads have a romance you follow, see build, and eventually find their way to love but the destination doesn't have that firework or finally feeling to it, it's much more subdued. Now, the journey, that is where all the emotion is but again, kind of subdued and your enjoyment of this story and it's characters is going to depend on if you like quiet everyday (in the fiction sense) falling in love. 

Powerful chemistry was quite a ride. 

The beginning with Sylvie's cake exploding delivered on what I usually think of a cartoon cover, rom-com, but the rest of the story had a more mature feel with an almost ache to the tone. The pace is considerate, with the gradual growing closer Sylvie and Dominic as they spend time together and get to know one another. However, most of the story has the two leads in their heads, I missed some of their connection because of this, I wanted to see the thoughts and feelings expressed outwardly towards each other instead of being told the inner thoughts. There was a moment around the 50% mark that had Dominic texting Sylvie to tell her he was going to be late and making sure she was ok, sort of outwardly showing but we only get a little of Sylvie's thoughts on him checking in. I wanted to “see” them connecting more, instead of mentally getting the feelings from them. 

It was probably slightly perverse to feel that growing warmth in his chest as she directed her list of grievances at him. And yet here they were. The more Sylvie stared daggers at him, the more inclined he was to pull her in. 

I mentioned how there was a lot of story and if some threads don't come back in some way in the series, I'm going to want some edited out even more so that the focus could have been more on Sylvie and Dominic. The reality show they're judging actually shocked me in how much it wasn't in the story, what really took over the time was the investigation work they do in order to win the bid for a royal wedding cake. The royal wedding has them investigating the favored uncle of the princess engaged and this leads to a mystery romance tale involving the uncle, that I thought stole too much of the spotlight. I can see how it ties into the princess and her own situation but again, not the main couple I'm here for, but just expect a sort of secondary couple romance to steal story from our main couple. Sylvie also deals with a rival managing to somehow copy her recipes and frankly, I think this whole thread could have been cut-out, especially the two main characters involved in it. Unless these characters matter latter in the series, they honestly added nothing to this story and, again, detracted from the main couple. There's some family and childhood trauma from Dominic's side but I thought this padded his character nicely and I loved his younger sister Pet (Petunia). There was also some emotional pull from issues involving Sylvie's childhood friend but I wish we could have known him more and seen them together more to pad that thread, definitely could have pulled the rival bakery thread in favor of this. 

However, the feeling of absolute faith that when the cracks started to appear, someone else would be crouching at your side, helping to bail out the water, and that you could do the same for them--- Pretty indescribable. 

There were a couple times in the beginning that I thought Dominic sunk into grumpy too far but when we get his childhood background, his cold exterior is given depth and the author plants enough little actions by him, like him always watching to make sure Sylvie got to her car late at night safe, even before they start to become friends, to let me warm up to him. This also might be an odd thing to mention but I liked, what I as an American identify as Englishisms (thank you Great British Bake Off for giving me a leg up here), it gave a sense of authenticity that I feel maybe gets changed or edited for American audiences. 

So lightly, so easily, she could say things that he'd never forget. 

I've read other books by this author and they have a tone and style that I like, it quietly reaches me, not unlike a Sonali Dev or Courtney Milan. This cover says rom-com to me but I would warn people to not go in looking for that tone. This was a mature, more about the journey than the destination, subdued, and quietly reaches you. It veered towards too many threads but maybe they'll play a part in the series. Sylvie and Dominic live up to their grumpy and sunshine and that is what I showed up for. The next in the series looks to be about Dominic's sister Pet and a royal personal protection officer. Y'all, this huge hulking quiet PPO gives tiny bright spirited Pet a teddy bear. SIGN ME UP.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Friday afternoon treats! 

I really enjoyed London Celebrities, so I'm so excited to see where Lucy Parker takes this new series. Especially since the Great British Bakeoff on Netflix made 2019-20 bearable for me 

🧁🍰🍩  

Happy weekend, all!

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker preorder (Aug17) link

Chocolate Chip Mint Smoothie recipe

1/2 teaspoon of mint extract worked great And to let you in on a secret, the green color comes from Spinach!

Review: A Duke Worth Fighting For

A Duke Worth Fighting For by Christina Britton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.7 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. 

“Mrs. Kitteridge, are you proposing I hire you on as my...matchmaker?” 

Third in the Isle of Synne series, A Duke Worth Fighting For brings together Margery, we meet her in book one as she's friends with the heroine, and newcomer Daniel, the Duke of Carlisle. I think you could comfortably start here, there's some time devoted to bringing back previous main couples and giving the reader glimpses into their continuing happily ever afters, but this was Margery and Daniel's story. 

How did she do it? How did she put him at ease when by all rights he should be riddled with anxiety? 

Margery is a widow who lost her husband in Waterloo four years ago and refuses to entertain the idea of love or marriage again because she sees it as a betrayal to their love. Daniel is severely scarred and walks with a limp because of injuries sustained at Waterloo, he was also a second son until his brother died three years ago and has some social anxiety and insecurity due to his appearance. The two are brought together by some conniving by Margery's grandmother and Daniel's mother and a recent attempt to blackmail Margery. Margery receives a letter claiming that her husband died fleeing the battle in Waterloo and if she doesn't pay up 100 pounds, the letter writer will sell the story to the papers. Margery has duke cousins and nobility in the family galore but she was cut-off from her father and had to elope with her husband because he came from simple origins; she doesn't want to have to beg for money. So, when Daniel admits he needs to find a wife but is socially inept, she offers to be his helper in Synne society and help him find a wife before he has to go to London, for the price of 100 pounds. 

For one glorious moment he thought he saw a reflection of his own potent desire for her mirrored in her eyes. 

With the story parameters set early on, it's only left to the characters to draw the reader in and I struggled with feeling any connections to them. Margery and Daniel felt like Regency paper dolls, they were mixed and matched with the very typical Regency dressing, especially Daniel. Daniel is a duke but this title was window dressing, he gets called “Your Grace” a couple times but any flushing out of responsibilities or powers with it are non-existent. The same with his PTSD from Waterloo and being a former soldier, he has some PTSD episodes but, window dressing. He also comes off very ineffectual, there's quiet, shy, and awkward but for a captain in the army who fought in Waterloo, he came off almost too unsure and bumbling. The only time I thought he showed any signs of life was when he stuck up for himself against his cousin Gregory, who bullied him as a child and now into adulthood and why Daniel wants to marry so Gregory can't inherit. 

And then she did the last thing he ever thought she would do: she wound her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. 

Margery was, fine as a character but still that Regency paper doll. Her storyline of being attracted to Daniel, not wanting to entertain ideas of marrying him because it would be a betrayal to her former husband, but then philosophizing that a short affair would be ok, was, fine. The ending, around 80%, focuses on Margery spending time with her husband's family and dealing with her father, issues I would have liked to have been dealt with much earlier so the ending could focus on her and Daniel. I think there was about 35 pages left when Daniel and Margery reunite but the focus still isn't fully on them when more time is taken up by negating a previous revelation, that was supposed to knock some emotion into the story, and thus, by negating it, I'm left to wonder, what was the point of it. 

“Stay with me.” 

He dragged in a ragged breath. “You need your rest.” 

“I need you.” 

Around 35% Daniel is already contemplating marrying Margery, by 50% they've started their affair, around 80% has more focus on Margery working through loving again and her grief over her husband, and then the very ending has a sex scene where Margery finally fully sees Daniels scars, I guess solidifying their love. Margery and especially Daniel he was a late 20s virgin but again, I'm not sure it fit and felt like window dressing were Regency paper dolls where personality traits and elements of their characters were just covered in window dressing. Where was the story, the complexities, the romance? This is the second recent newly published Regency where I found myself searching for anything to take notes on. As I've said, I've read a lot of this sub-genre, so if you're new to Regency and a fan of this series (even though I don't think there was much to the setting of the outside world), then you might enjoy this more than me and like the glimpse of former main couples playing with their children.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Midweek pick-me-up historical romance with lunch! 

I'm a purple gal, so this cover is 💜😍💜

A Duke Worth Fighting For by Christina Britton preorder (Aug.24) link

Spicy Coconut Curry Chicken with Rice Noodles recipe

I added an extra tblsp of curry. My partner liked this one but there wasn't something about the taste that didn't jive with me, the soy sauce felt off in it for me :/

Review: The Wildest Ride

The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 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. 

Tearing folks from their history was one of the ways to break them, so Lil's family had held on to theirs through their land---through cultural hostility, the dust bowl, outright deception, attempts to steal, and everything else that time and life had thrown their way. 

After her granddad dies, Lilian Sorrow Island learns that he took out a reverse mortgage on their ranch, Swallowtail, and now that the bereavement period is over, they need to start making payments on the 1.2 million dollar loan. The ranch is barely getting by but her grandma has a plan, have Lil compete in the new PBRA Close Circuit tour, a reality tv rodeo, tournament style, two month competition that will award the all around winner 1 million dollars. Lil competed in the INFR and always dreamed of riding bulls in the PBR but they wouldn't accept women at the time. This is a chance to save her ranch and live out her dream. 

Huge, rough, layered, and callused, they were the hands of a man who let go of something only when he was ready to. 

The PBRA's most decorated cowboy, AJ Garza, has been on a retirement tour around the world for the last three years. When he learns the organization, CityBoyz, that took him in as a troubled youth, headed by Henry “The Old Man” and one of the best Black cowboys to compete in the PBRA, lost their biggest donor and needs money, he decides to come out of retirement and enter the closed circuit tour to win the prize money for them. Not knowing what to do with his life after rodeo, it's the perfect opportunity to stay in the game. After he watches the new guy, Lil Sorrow, get the highest score on the first competition of bronc riding, he's excited for the first real competition he's had in years. When the new guy turns out to be a woman, AJ finds himself drawn for a new reason. 

She needed to take herself in hand. She had strict rules, both about rodeo cowboys and mixing work with pleasure, and all of them could be summed up in one word: no. 

The Wildest Ride, is first in debut author Marcella Bell's Closed Circuit series and had the a love letter to the west feel of a Beverly Jenkins and the family and friends cast of characters and sexy loving moments of a Lori Foster. The setting and elements of rodeo are truly the fabric that becomes the backbone to the story, especially in the beginning. It's not really until 35% that the romance kicks in between Lil and AJ but I loved how the rodeo/ranching elements gave the story an overall stripped down feel. 

Lil has lived the majority of her life on the ranch, raised by her grandparents after her teenage mom refused to name the cowboy who got her pregnant and then ends up dying when Lil is four years old. The pain of feeling abandoned has made her develop trust issues, especially with men. Her grandma and the other two who help on the ranch, cousin Tommy and ranch hand Piper, are the only people she lets in. Lil is our grumpy and AJ is our sunshine. AJ grew-up in Houston and after his father died, he had anger issues that had his mom sending him to CityBoyz, an inner city youth program, there he learned a love for rodeo and a natural talent for it. He's thirty-six to Lil's twenty-seven and has vast experience in dealing with the press and whole song and dance involved with a reality tv show. Lil grew-up watching AJ and had a crush on him but she's the real rancher to his “city boy” and AJ still has some things to learn in that arena. They constantly are neck and neck in the competitions, keeping them aware of each other. 

She sighed in his ear, whispering back, willing to be open and soft in another language, “Apurate, vaquero, he estado esperandote a toda mi vida.” 

The closed circuit tournament worked to keep these two together but pace of the competition felt a little disjointed at times. The competition isn't the main focus, it intermittently gets focused on and for it being the glue that holds our couple together, it never fully fit right for me. What I did enjoy a lot was how easy, sweet, and sexily taunting AJ could be with Lil and how her grumpiness delighted and egged him on. Lil's tough but AJ teasingly coaxing her out of her cocoon created some sweet scenes. There's not a ton of bedroom scenes but the author takes her time when they are there and I found them all the better for it, more of that stripped down feeling. 

He took a step closer and she tilted her chin up to keep eye contact. “Stop this foolishness,” he said. “Take me home with you.” 

Something sharp and scared flashed through her eyes but was gone in an instant. “You won't stay.” 

He leaned in bringing his lips closer to hers, and she strained up toward him, even if she wasn't aware of it. 

“I will.” He spoke softly, his mouth only inches from hers. 

This felt more like a story, an experience, that I let myself sink into, there's substantial aspects to capture your heart and mind; Lil's Muscogee heritage, family drama, history with INFR and PBRA, and Lil being a woman competing. Individually Lil outshone AJ for me a bit but he's what made them shine as a couple. There were some conversations that I thought were repeated and slowed down the story in the middle, a late reveal that didn't get the time needed to feel emotionally satisfying, and a, somewhat, abrupt ending. This is first in a series, so the CityBoyz storyline is probably going to be the continuing connection but for how heedful the rest of the story was paced, it made the ending feel rushed. This was an impressive debut that felt stripped down in its quietness, I felt the blood, sweat, tears, and skill in rodeo and ranching, my eyes watered out of nowhere with Lil fighting to remind everyone that “girls had try”, and the grumpy/sunshine romance delivered the sweet. There are a couple secondary characters that I'm hoping will get their own books in this series (Piper, please!), I'm pretty sure I caught a tease for AJ's friend Diablo and the rodeo queen Sierra and I'll definitely be in line to read them. Also, make sure to read the author's note at the end.

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50%

This late in the day, his face was all five-o-clock scruff and shadowed planes in low lighting and she fought the urge to run her fingers along his jawline. 

This has a cowboy in a low-slung towel, alert!

Reading Update: 5%

 

"Is that an innuendo?" My partner reading the title of this book 🤣 

Happy Sunday, everyone! 

Having some late lunch, having trouble looking away from this cover, and ready to read about cowboys 🤠

The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell preorder (Aug. 10) link

Blackberry Chicken Spinach Salad with Blackberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette recipe

Loved the dressing, seasoned chicken and chickpeas with BBQ seasoning

Review: Pirate's Golden Promise

Pirate's Golden Promise by Lynette Vinet
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was originally published in 1988 under the title “Love's Golden Promise” and reissued for Kindle in 2013. I'm guessing “Love's” was changed to “Pirate's” because of keyword, algorithm shenanigans. A ship on the cover or Pirate in the title, well...

   

Y'all, within the first six or so paragraphs I was introduced to this man who loved this girl, had to marry her older sister for money, keeps the younger sister as mistress and impregnates her (don't worry older sis was impregnated 8yrs ago), the sister's father disinherits everyone because he's not about mess (don't blame him), the younger sister dies in childbirth but not before making the sister impregnator (I know this isn't a word) promise to raise her daughter as if she was legitimate, making everyone lie and say the older sister is the baby's mother.

   

We get a little bit of Cinderella with the sister imprenator doting on his illegitimate daughter, thus making the wife and legitimate daughter hate her. In fact, when illegitimate baby Wynter was born, her half-sister Lucy, who was SEVEN at the time, had this to say: Leaning over the sleeping Wynter, she said, “One day your prettiness won’t be enough, little baby. I’ll make sure of it.”

 

We fast forward to Wynter's seventeenth birthday, get introduced to the stable boy Fletcher who is her bestfriend and in love with her and learn that Wynter Loves a Lord Adam. At her birthday party she learns that Adam is going to ask for hand in marriage, he shows a little bit of his rapey side, and she gets rescued from a Captain Cort Van Linden. The captain is a bit too Man for this seventeen year old and even though she gets lost making out with him, she flounces away. 

Scorned wife ain't having Wynter marry Lord Adam because her daughter Lucy wants him and wife wants his inheritance, he's their second cousin and got the inheritance that no mess daddy refused to give to daughters. She threatens to tell everyone about Wynter's illegitimacy but sister impregnator ruins her plans by telling Wynter, who is shocked but fairly whatevs to the situation. Wynter also tells Lord Adam who doesn't care as long as her money is still intact, he got bills to pay. 

Anyway, as dads are wont to do in these situations, he dies and forgot to (or is evil stepmothers at work?) write in Wynter into his will, as she is illegitimate, Lucy stands to inherit everything. Lucy gets the money and then gets Lord Adam, because bills but Adam wants to keep Wynter as his mistress. Wynter doesn't want to repeat history so she looks for an escape. 

She first turns to Captain Van Linden, they had another make-out shesh when she was out riding and asks him for money to buy her childhood home. He says sure but she has to go with him on his ship for one year. “For one year you’re to sail on my ship, eat beside me, share my quarters at night, and I don’t mean only to sleep there. The life of a sea captain is very lonely.” Her fear of his too much Man and that Ah-mazing offer has her refusing him in only the way a seventeen year old bodice ripper girl can.

   

She then turns to her stable boy bestie Fletch who has a plan to travel to America as an indentured servant and make his fortune. Remember how I said the author took the time to change the title, well, I wish they had taken the time to go back through this story and edit it because, I kid you not, this is a line Fletch says: Do you know there are slaves in Virginia? Have you ever heard of such a thing? But, aye, if one needs slaves to be rich, I’ll get me some.” What in the holy hell??? Wynter ends up marrying this paragon of virtue and they travel to America. ***Spoiler***Fletch ends up dying, so he's pretty much a throw away character, this line did not need to be in here and why the hell it was included, I'll never know.***End Spoiler***

On the ship to America, it gets attacked by pirates and guess who the pirate is! Captain Van Linden.

   

So, Fletch gets conveniently disposed of, I didn't cry for him, and then a storm hits, Wynter ends up banging her head and gets the goofiest form of amnesia I have ever read. She thinks she and the Captain are married. Y'all. This was around the 30% mark and after all this, I just started skim/speed reading. Van Linden makes everyone go along with her married thing, he Loves her, I guess?? 

Captain Morgan gets thrown into the story, part two takes us to New Amsterdam, every dude wants Wynter, Van Linden is a gentle pirate, they have a baby, people try to break up their marriage, and basic bodice ripper drama ensues for most of part 2. There really wasn't any depth to characters, the beginning, especially felt like everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off and part two was more bodice ripper family drama.

Verdict: not a hidden gem.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

It's Kindle Freebie month! 

I have a, umm, less than judicial one-click decision making for Kindle freebies. 

Random Number Generator has decided to start this wild ride with a pirate book. Ahoy, mateys!

Quickie Review: Captive Prince

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Whoo boy, I must have missed the controversy that came with this book when it first came out because I didn't really know anything about this going in (random number generator picked it for me out of my recommended by friends list). 

The book provides a map and list of characters, divided by country created world, which is always nice in fantasy, but I still felt really lost in the first chapter with all the names thrown about. The gist is that Damen was betrayed by his bastard brother and sold into captivity to an enemy country. His country and the land think their prince is dead and I guess no one (I bet I know someone who knows who he is) recognizes him in the enemy country. He's treated as a prisoner and brought to the enemy country, a country that has "pets" and sleeps with the same sex because they revile bastardy so much.

 Anyway, by chapter 3 I was already checking out because of the enemy courts rape and pedophilia culture . Damen is brought in and they have a wrestling match where the winner rapes the loser (there's some alluding to it being more of a performance for the people watching). The crowd getting turned on by the rape begin getting sexual with their pets, it's almost an orgy. Ok, fine, I thought we had an erotic/a situation going on here with some line toeing but then Damen remarks on how young one of the pets is, a prepubescent boy and the pedophilia is not quite always front and center from there but with a big secondary character that is a prepubescent boy, it hovers around the spot light. 

What really didn't work for me was the tone, this felt like a Literotica.com story, the sexual overtone felt like it was meant to titillate and with prepubescent boys and a forced sexual act on Damen, the tone wasn't something I liked matched with the action happening on page. 

I see people like the very slow burn tension that is happening between Damen and his captor Laurent and Laurent seems interesting with his ice façade and, what I'm guessing, is survival technique from surviving his own abuse from his uncle but the tone I talked about is not for me. The fantasy world setting seemed less filled out in favor of the cultural sexual aspects, too.

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Review: A Scot to the Heart

A Scot to the Heart by Caroline Linden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 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. 

Great God above, he was heir presumptive to the Duke of Carlyle. 

Second in the Desperately Seeking Duke series, this follows Captain Andrew St. James, who we briefly saw in the first (About a Rogue). To get the full overreaching arc of the series, you want to read this series in order. The author does a small recap by showing us the scene where Andrew and Maximilian (hero from first) are called to Carlyle Castle by the Duchess and told that her son, the current duke, is in ill health and that they are two of a possible three heirs. The scene is this time shown from Andrew's point-of-view and he is our captain out of the “An army man, a cardsharp, or a Frenchman,” heirs and currently, the most promising one to inherit. He's shocked but also carefully joyful as to what this could mean for his mother and three sisters. He joined the army when he was eighteen to keep his family out of debtors prison after his father died with numerous unpaid bills and he had to find a way to support the family. He plans on resigning his captaincy and going home to Edinburgh to alert his family. He's given the same deal Maximilian was by the Duchess, 500 pounds to use wisely, stay respectable, and return in six months time for the Duchess to judge their progress. 

And she was so tired of toeing the many, many lines laid down by people who told her that all her desires and interests were wrong or unseemly. 

In his first night back to Edinburgh, Andrew goes to an oyster cellar with his bestfriend Felix Duncan and he is instantly intrigued by a woman there and they share a searing kiss before she disappears on him. The woman turns out to be widowed Ilsa Ramsay and a good friend of his sister Agnes. Ilsa grew up with a loving but controlling father and then married a man that kept her even more locked up, she's bursting at the seams to have even a little freedom. Her husband died in a duel over a year ago and she is getting her first taste of freedom but society restrictions and her Aunt Jean who lives with her keep trying to keep their thumb over her. Ilsa never does anything that is completely wild, you have to keep in mind the scope of late 1700s that this story takes place, but I still felt some of her struggle got lost. I did greatly enjoy the talk of oyster cellars and their new infamy, adding some flavor of the times, which, besides some mentions of wigs and woman wearing kerchiefs to cover bosoms, I'm not sure I totally felt a distinction from Regency sub-genre feels. Reading this in the twenty-first century, I also had to smile at Ilsa and Andrew starting their romance, essentially, with a drunken kiss in a bar. 

Drew had been gleaning scraps of information about Ilsa, and the picture they formed made his heart ache. A lonely childhood, raised by a strict aunt while her father worked. More tutors and instructors than friends. A husband who wouldn’t allow her to ride, even though she relished it. 

The first book worked hard to set the scene for the whole series, this scaled things back and for the vast majority of the story, focused on Ilsa and Andrew. I usually favor angsty hard won love but Ilsa and Andrew had a light and easy fall in love that was warming in its own way. They have beginning heated attraction but they also so clearly become friends through it all. When Andrew has to check on a Carlyle holding, Stormont Castle, he invites his family, a few male friends, and Ilsa to join him. At the castle is where their friendship blossomed and they just made me smile. There's a scene where Andrew is going to pretend to be a ghost to give his sisters the scare they all have been wanting and he invites Ilsa to pretend with him. I feel like I don't read enough stories that have the leads being so light-hearted with each other and then the way the eye contact starts to get heated in a way that they both realize they love the person they are having such fun with, gives the romance such a great different dimension. 

There was no one else in the room. It was only the two of them, moving about each other more and more slowly and deliberately, every touch lingering, every glance heated. Then there was no music, just the thud of his heart and the husky invitation of her whispers as she tugged at his clothing, pressing against him as he undid the laces on that scarlet gown and tasted her skin . . . 

It was around 60% that these two both have realized their love and it honestly felt like the story could be wrapped up but then the story goes in a bit of a different direction. While these two are falling in love, there is a lingering to the sides story about robberies in Edinburgh that suddenly comes to the forefront with about 30% left. It felt a bit awkward as romances tend to solve the action and then leave the ending for the romance between leads, this swapped those two. It didn't fully work for me, as I was mostly here for the romance and with that kind of run out of steam because of declared love, I lost some steam to keep engaged in the story. Basically, Ilsa's father is accused of the robberies and the town starts to turn on her and she decides she must find her father who skipped town and try to help to prove his innocence. Andrew does go with her but I still felt like this plot thread was placed out of order. 

Holding her close, he pressed his cheek to hers and whispered, “Let the world go hang. I love you, Ilsa.” 

There was some skipping of time that had interactions I would have liked to see between Ilsa and Andrew and Ilsa's pet pony Robert ended up feeling more hokey than cute eccentric. However, I still enjoyed the little things that make Linden's stories stick-out, the overreaching series arc, the brief but deep mention of Andrew's family not wanting to be English (his mother's cousin died at Culloden and her father barely survived the English brutality after), and the general light, developed friendship between Ilsa and Andrew. There was obviously something between Andrew's sister Agnes and his friend Duncan and that tease has me wanting to read their novella. We also have yet to meet the frenchman who is the third possible Duke of Carlyle heir and I can't wait to read his story as he looks to be paired with the Duchess of Carlyle's ward.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Second in the Desperately Seeking Duke series, the first introduced us to three possible heirs. I really like when a series is tied together with a story plot and not just following siblings. 

Can't wait to meet Captain Andrew St. James. (I already know he wears his uniform well from that cover 😉)

A Scot the Heart by Caroline Linden purchase link

Chicken Enchilada Bowl recipe

Review: One Christmas Wish

One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 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. 

His betrayal had done more than hurt, it had nearly destroyed her. 

One Christmas Wish, is fifth in the Catalina Cove series but is the first book I've read in the series. The first half, especially the beginning is full of names and relationships that I'm assuming are characters that have appeared in the series and while it could have easily felt overwhelming, there's maybe a smidgen of that there, I felt it more brought the feelings of closeness of everyone in the town. As the title hints at, this takes place around the winter holidays, although Catalina Cove is in Louisiana, so you won't be getting hot chocolate and snowmen but blueberry muffins and gumbo. I normally complain about having a lot of characters thrown at me right in the beginning, but here, it just worked because the friendships and relationships provided those feelings of love and support you want to wrap yourself in during the holiday season. 

However, tonight, while she sat across from Vaughn Miller, he had been able to do what all those other guys hadn’t. He had reminded her that she was not only a woman, but she was a woman with needs. 

Our heroine Sierra, has moved back to town after getting a divorce, she found her husband in bed with the neighbors, and now owns a soup cafe, The Green Fig. She also has an adopted goddaughter from her bestfriend who died two years ago. She's decided to devote herself to raising her goddaughter, Sierra doesn't think she can trust again after her ex-husband. He's also been starting to call her nonstop trying to get her back. When her goddaughter tells her she gets one Christmas wish, she wishes for happiness. 

Vaughn had kissed her in a way that even made her toes tingle, and she had liked it. 

Enter our hero Vaughn, a former Wall Street man who was sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. He ended up serving two years of the five year sentence and gives a lot of the success to a prison pen pal that sent moving words of encouragement while he was incarcerated. He ends up moving back to his hometown Catalina Cove and given a job by Lacroix Industries on their executive team. He also gets exonerated and found innocent of his original chargers. When he's having supper at the Green Fig, he takes a good look at Sierra and finds himself drawn. 

Sierra closed her eyes for a second as she drew in a deep breath. How could she fight this? How could she fight a man who was so charming, so charismatic, so full of sex appeal and who had more magnetism than any man she knew? 

This was a very low angst story that had Sierra not wanting to get involved with Vaughn in a serious capacity and Vaughn sweetly but surely wearing her down. By the 50% percent mark, they are hitting the sheets and steaming up the pages. There's some outside elements trying to distract them, Vaughn's ex-fiancee and a divorced woman in town trying to catch his eye, Sierra has her ex-husband trying to win her back so he can get a promotion and then her being scared to trust again. It's mellowed tone but as a holiday book it works because it provides that snuggle in, looking for human closeness. 

“I would do just about anything for you, cherie,” he said softly. 

There was a towards the end, brief, moment of Sierra's ex-husband trying to take her adopted daughter away that had Vaughn taking charge in a way that Sierra did not like and gave us that romance black moment that felt a tiny forced in Sierra's swing of emotion but that is the most angst you'll get here. There is also the set-up for, I'm guessing, the next in the series with a second chance romance that will have the man fighting and working to get back in the woman's good graces and I'm ready to see the guy work for it. There was also a thread of the town's founder Lafitte and his Princess Zara, Vaughn is their descendant, that has me very much wanting the author to take some artistic license and write a prequel starring them. 

I would have liked to delve deeper into Vaughn's feelings of being sent to jail and the ending had one of those improbable but sweet reveals that you just have to go along with in a holiday book. Overall, this was a low angst story of family, friendships, and loving, perfect for snuggling in with and warming you from the inside out in the holiday season.

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Review: A Night with a Rogue

A Night with a Rogue by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For more quotes and comments: 

The Beauty and the Spy buddy read 

Ways to be Wicked buddy read 

 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. 

The Beauty and the Spy 5 stars 

All the way there she'd rehearsed in her head what she might say to him, how she would ask it, what she might do if his answers broke her heart. But then he turned suddenly and saw her. And his face, unguarded, told her everything she needed to know, and questions were no longer necessary. "Oh, Kit. It's all right," she said softly. "I love you, too." He stared at her, caught. And then he laughed a short laugh, which was no doubt meant to sound incredulous or devil-may-care, but which failed miserably. 

Beauty and the Spy starts off with a reach out and grab you prologue where James Makespeace arrives in the middle of the night to Anna Holt's cottage in Gorringe. He warns her that his friend, her lover and the father of their three daughters, Richard Lockwood, has been murdered and she's been framed for it. With only seconds to spare, the decision is made for Anna to disappear and have James take her three daughters into hiding until everything can be figured out. Chapter one then brings us to seventeen years later. 

This is a reissue, with the first two books in the series bound together in this edition. I read this series over ten years ago and I was happy to see that the first book still holds up as one of my favorite stories. The plot of why and who could be involved with Richard's murder takes over a lot of the beginning, the reader is let into the details before the characters, which I think works perfectly as there is a lot to keep track of. Thaddeus Morley is a come up from the slums who is a dirty politician and the known villain, he also ties together our heroine Susannah and Kit. Susannah is the youngest daughter of Richard and Anna and has little to no memory of her true parentage, she thinks James, the man who raised her is her father. After James is killed, she winds up penniless and living with her Aunt, who eventually reveals that James wasn't her real father. Kit is an ex-solider, now spy who is drowning in boredom in London. His father threatens to send him to Egypt if he can't finish a nature folio project in Barnstable. The city Susannah's aunt just happens to live in. 

The folio project was a little of a stretch to get these two together but you'll be impressed with how Long connects all the other characters and dots involved in the plot. Morley, the man who destroyed Susannah's family, also happens to be the man who took away Kit's childhood love, Caroline, and caused a shift in Kit's life. It's a lot of clues and journey for Kit and Susannah and you'll want all the secondary characters to get stories of their own. Seriously, where is John Carr's story?!? 

The plot has depth and breadth and I like how it wasn't just created for this first book but will carry over and serve to really connect the next two in the series. I also loved the patience and care Long took with not only the plot but the characters and their relationships. Susannah and Kit get to know one another and it was a beautiful relationship to watch grow. They both have a bit of devil-may-care to them and I loved their playfulness with each other; I felt the emotion between them. If you have a short attention span and like how characters jump into bed right away, this wouldn't be for you but if you're ready to sit and sink into not only a story but a series, the plot and quiet love between Susannah and Kit is a must read. 

 

Ways to Be Wicked 2 stars 

She did not want to be found until she'd learn what she'd come to learn. 

The second book in the trilogy, Ways to be Wicked follows the sister Sylvie. We meet her as she's sneaking away to travel to England from France because of a letter she found from a Lady Susannah Whitelaw claiming to be her sister. Like Susannah, Sylvie doesn't have much memory of her mother and sisters and the woman that took her in, a former dancer with the famous Daisy, has been burning the letters from Susannah, thinking Sylvie is still in trouble. When Sylvie gets to England, she lands in the lap of Tom Shaughnessy, the dance hall owner we meet in the first, and also gets robbed by highwaymen. There's an instant something between her and Tom and he offers the name of his dance hall if she needs refuge. Which is what she ends up needing after going to Lady Susannah's home and discovering that not only have Susannah and her husband traveled to France but the butler doesn't believe her story of being Susannah's sister. They have been inundated with impostors after the story of Susannah and her sisters has hit the papers. Sylvie is left with only one place to go, Tom's. 

The story then becomes a little disjointed as multiple threads are happening, Sylvie a ballerina struggling to stuff her pride to be a dance hall girl, the wavering attraction between her and Tom, Tom's discovery of a child, Tom trying to get funding for a new project, The General and Daisy, and Susannah's lover Etienne, who may have followed her to England. The first had a lot of threads also, but here, they never gelled together right for me and Tom and Sylvie never got the focus required for me to feel the emotions between them. The connecting thread from the first is also not really integrated until the end when Kit and Susannah come into the picture. 

This second book didn't have the heat and emotions I delighted in from the first and Sylvie and Tom never got the focus I would have liked. The dance hall setting was at least a different place to visit as none of the main characters were aristocrats.

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