Review: Beauty Tempts the Beast

Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine Heath
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I want you to teach me how to be a seductress.” 

There are only so many options when your father is accused of plotting to assassinate the Queen, and Lady Althea Stanwick has become nothing if pragmatic. Her two brothers are delving into the shadowy depths as they try to prove their father was innocent, leaving Althea to know she needs to fend for herself. When Benedict Trewlove, the owner of a brothel, saves her from a man, she decides to strike a deal with him. If Ben successfully teaches her how to become a mistress for a Lord protector, she'll pay him two thousand dollars, money he needs to set-up the women in the brothel and finally get out of the business. 

Give me one more night, Thea. We’ll make it last. 

This is the sixth and final installment of the Sins for All Seasons series that starred the Trewloves, children given over to Ettie Trewlove for abandonment or protection. This started off with a quick scene showing a woman dropping Ben off as a baby, promising to return, but then ultimately jumping years into the future as the woman never came back for him. There's some dual intrigue with Althea's brothers being spin-off series bait as the issues with their father seem not to be so cut and dry and Ben finally getting some answers to who that mysterious woman was that night who dropped him off. Before the halfway mark these two were already saying their “I love yous” and planning on getting married. The third act breakup does its job with some derailment tied into Ben's past and future but nothing that hit too emotionally as the characters didn't dwell too long. This felt more like a sedately toned book with Althea being more quietly contemplative over losing her status in the nobility and Ben had made a loving and comfortable life for himself, even with the mystery of his past. The epilogue delivers for readers of the series with a revisit to characters and some wrapped up feel, while leading you into the next series and Althea's brothers search for the truth about their father and getting their birthrights back.

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Review: The Backup Plan

The Backup Plan by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

And now she, a woman who owned little but the big, fat chip on her shoulder, also owned one-third of the Last Chance Inn and all its surrounding property. 

The Back-up Plan was a story of when you can't run from your past anymore and have to face old hurts. Alice grew-up on the Wild West Last Chance Inn with her father, brother Will, and pseudo-grandmother. She fixed cars with her father and brother, had a bestfriend in her brother's girlfriend Lauren, and was crushing hard on the Inn's help Knox. When her brother crashes his car, one Alice had just fixed the brakes on, and dies, she can't take the pain and leaves the ranch and all her relationships behind the first chance she gets. Four years later, she's called back when Eleanor (pseudo-gram) dies and she's listed as an inheritor of the ranch, along with two other people she never wanted to face again. 

“I don’t want to be alone in the end.” The look in her eyes, the soft, mesmerizing mix of vulnerability, pain, and stubbornness got him right in the heart. 

“So change the ending of your story.” 

This had the Shalvis charm along with some deeper emotional hurts, with the death of her brother and Knox's emotional issues stemming from having an alcoholic mother, and Lauren having a town keeping her in the grieving “widow” role. You'll get povs from all three characters and a mini-bonus romance between Lauren and a new person to town. The forced proximity plot was a romance genre special with all having to meet will requirements that keep them from being able to leave right away and not sell the ranch immediately. This forces Alice to have to sit in her grief and discomfort and have those hard conversations with Knox and Lauren. The romance had some sparking moments but the fixing the relationship between Alice and Lauren had more emotional depth moments to me. With all three having character work to do individually and together, there wasn't a lot of time to focus down deep into one aspect but if you're looking for a Shalvis special of charm, funny, and some heat, this wouldn't be a bad beach read pick-up with it's old hurts, secrets, and finding a way back to each other and an epilogue that delivers on some happy favorite elements.

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Review: Pride and Pemberley: A Novel Inspired by Jane Austen

Pride and Pemberley: A Novel Inspired by Jane Austen by Dee Garretson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Did I want this? 

Pride and Pemberley was a story inspired by Jane Austen's characters where American Libby Darcy inherits her grandmother's bed and breakfast estate in England. Libby's recently out of a relationship where her ex still acts as if they'll get back together and trying to find her herself as her law career never got it's footing after she failed the bar exam and she constantly is fighting negative thoughts about herself that are fueled by her mother's emotionally abusive comments to her. Libby dreams of revitalizing the bed and breakfast and with a wedding with a high profile couple, she might just be able to make her dream come true. 

With a lost contact childhood friend, Davin de Bourgh showing up to be the landscape architect, we have our mild and not too focused on romance with misunderstandings, pride, and prejudice. Libby's sisters also make some sideline showings along with with some Bingley's playing a little villain role and a ghost Lady searching for a pig. This was really about Libby trying to decide what she was going to do in life with problems and obstacles popping up in regards to fixing up the estate in time for the wedding, with some relationship navigating. A lot of the middle of the story got lost in house issues minutiae for me with it picking up a bit towards the end as Davin and Libby's romance entered the story more. It was more of “hey, I misunderstood this about you and now we can be together because we like each other” quick, mild interaction but for the tone of the overall story, it fit. If you enjoyed the original characters and want another glimpse of them and looking for a mild trip into fixing up an estate and growing into yourself, this could be a pick in the Austen world.

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