Reading Update: 50%

He held himself still, his muscles barely undulating beneath his skin. As if he still tried to hold himself back, as if he tried to tether his control. Oh, that wouldn’t do. She slid her hands up and into his thick hair, tightening her fingers in the strands.

Release Week for No Other Duke Will Do by Grace Burrowes #Giveaway

No Other Duke Will Do by Grace Burrowes

(part of the Windham Brides series)

will be published on November 7, 2017 from Forever.

Goodreads | Mass market: $7.99 | eBook: $6.99 | ISBN: 9781455570003

One of Amazon’s Top Romance Picks for November

"Compelling, sympathetic characters and a rare blend of passion and humor result in another exquisite gem from a master of the genre. Gorgeously done."―Library Journal, starred review

SUMMARY

Julian St. David, Duke of Haverford, is barely keeping his head above water in a sea of inherited debts. Though he has a long-term plan to restore the family finances, his sister has a much faster solution: host a house party for London's single young ladies and find Julian a wealthy bride.

Elizabeth Windham has no interest in marriage, but a recent scandal has forced her hand. As much as she'd rather be reading Shakespeare than husband-hunting, she has to admit she's impressed by Julian's protective instincts, broad shoulders, and, of course, his vast library.

As the two spend more time together, their attraction is overwhelming, unexpected... and absolutely impossible. With meddling siblings, the threat of financial ruin, and gossips lurking behind every potted palm, will they find true love or true disaster?

Excerpt:

“I still want to kiss you, Elizabeth. Rather a lot.”

            “That sentiment is mutual,” she said, setting off at a brisk pace. “But where is it written that friends can never kiss, or otherwise express their attraction to each other?”

            “It ought to be written somewhere,” Haverford said, “in great bold copperplate. Kissing leads to—”

            “I know where it leads, Your Grace, in the general case. The destination has been sadly unimpressive on past visits. I’d like to explore where kissing leads with you.”

            “You are—”

            “I am lonely too.” And doubtless bound for marriage to some charming, boring viscount with clammy hands.

            “—quite fierce about this friendship business.” His gaze was on the castle, and Elizabeth suspected he was trying not to smile.

            “I’m quite fierce about everything.” And only now coming to admit it.

            “We shall be fierce friends then, for the duration of a house party. One shudders to think what mischief… What the devil is he doing here?”

            A coach and four was rattling up the drive a quarter of a mile away. The horses were all white, exactly matched for gait and height, and pulling a black coach with red wheels. A single trunk was affixed to the back, though no crest adorned the door.

            “It appears you’ve a late arriving guest.” Or a bad fairy calling on the party, based on Haverford’s expression.  

            “Not a guest, a problem. A most unwelcome problem.”

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Grace Burrowes grew up in central Pennsylvania and is the sixth out of seven children. She discovered romance novels when in junior high (back when there was such a thing), and has been reading them voraciously ever since. Grace has a bachelor's degree in political science, a bachelor of music in music history, (both from Pennsylvania State University); a master's degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University; and a juris doctor from the National Law Center at the George Washington University.

Grace writes Georgian, Regency, Scottish Victorian, and contemporary romances in both novella and novel lengths. She's a member of Romance Writers of America, and enjoys giving workshops and speaking at writers' conferences. She also loves to hear from her readers, and can be reached through her website, www.graceburrowes.com.

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Review: Once Upon a Maiden Lane

Once Upon a Maiden Lane by Elizabeth Hoyt
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.

"I want to learn all of you. I want you to know me in return. When I next kiss you, I want you to welcome my lips like a lover instead of a stranger."

A novella listed as #12.5 in the Maiden Lane series, you could still read this as a standalone. Mary grew up in the orphanage featured in the series and we've seen glimpses of her and a couple other characters before but the hero and their romance is a new introduction.

With some Cinderella inspiration, nursemaid Mary is identified in a bookstore by our hero Lord Henry Blackwell to be the missing Albright twin. Twin babies stolen by their nursemaid, while Johanna was recovered Cecilia was never found. Henry is taken aback by how much Mary looks like Johanna and immediately claims she is Cecilia. Now, this is a novella, so the tempo gets pushed up. Henry's immediate claim Mary is Cecilia and the family accepting it is a bit side-eyeing but the relationship Henry and Mary have, made up for it for me.

He looked at her, at her straight black brows and the big brown eyes regarding him so seriously, and yet with a spark of humor, and it was as if something turned over in his chest. She was playing with him, this woman.

I instantly felt a spark between the two, Hoyt's skill with sexual tension was evident but the friendship and sheer compatibility between the two won the show for me. Mary's guardedness but also strength paired with Henry's charm provided a delightful give and take between them.

"And you? Did you have a pet as a child?"
"Yes, several," he replied. "Dogs and cats. Now I've got two hounds---Mole and Timberline."
"Mole?"
"His ears are very soft," he said a tad defensively.

I also thought this story was laced with skillful writing moments that a top author like Hoyt can provide; showing, instead of being told, little nuances of a character make the reading so much richer. You'll also get a pretty good feel for the times (1700s) as Hoyt focuses on the clothing through Mary being dressed as a lady for the first time.

As I mentioned, the Cinderella story, and all it’s in and outs, has some forced and awkward moments and the ending was a tad rushed but there is an epilogue that works to soothe that (you'll see a lot of past characters show up here). This is a novella and if you're looking for a quick hit of romance warmth, Once Upon a Maiden Lane would provide that and a friendly return to the Maiden Lane world.

It was like a fairy tale come true.


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Review: A Lady's Code of Misconduct

A Lady's Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First off, I just want to say, I could weep for how well written this was. I didn't catch a connection to other books in this series but if you read Duke of Shadows, two names (Duke of Auburn and Lockwood) are going to be familiar to you. The story structure, characters, and how Duran interweaved them all together was just plain great story telling. Why I ended up giving this three stars (solidly liked it) is all due to just personal taste.

And so, in the very act of communicating an opinion, she had committed the egregious offense of insisting on her humanity.

With the laws in place during the 1860s, our heroine Jane has no autonomy and has her life and money controlled by her uncle after her parents die. The author doesn't shy away from how crappy women had it and forces the reader to understand what those laws financially and emotionally do to women. Reading women’s pain, anger, and triumphs never fails to hit me in the gut and heart.

Where had this woman come from? Her voice was made of steel and her dignity, unbreakable.

I'm glad I wait until December to do my yearly romance awards because Jane is going to be on my best heroines list with bells on. Her character gets 5 stars for me. From the way she had to survive under her uncle, to deciding she couldn't do it anymore, and how she owned her decisions. She is a bleeding heart liberal who gets knocked sideways by realities a bit but instead of shunning knowledge or being too embarrassed to acknowledge when she is wrong, she takes her licks and keeps on. Her courage was magnificent.

"You've been having a good deal of fun," he said slowly, "haven't you? Convincing the world that you're a mouse."

I loved the beginning of the book before Crispin gets his amnesia. I loved his dark villainy to Jane's avenging angel. You could see where he starts to notice her (my favorite romance moment, when the hero "sees" the heroine in a way no one else does) and through this, the reader gets a deeper glimpse into his character and how he may have some shades of grey.

A squeak came from her. She had made that noise. His lips felt hot. He spoke against her skin.
"Your hair," he said, "is a glory. Promise me you will never pin it up again."
The brush of his mouth sent static sparks along her skin. She felt flushed, shivering, light-headed. "I don't…it would be a scandal."
He turned her wrist ever so slightly, finding her pulse with his tongue. Her breath caught. She heard him breathe in deeply.
"Then unpin it just for me," he whispered.

The reason this got a three star rating from me was because I didn't fully connect with the hero Crispin and the romance between the two. I loved Crispin pre-amnesia and was settled in for some great sparking battles between him and Jane. When his amnesia reverts his personality back to before perceived betrayals (which kind of confused me, didn't all the betrayals happen before the 5 yrs he couldn't remember? Wouldn't the bitterness still be there for him? Felt kind of odd that he would only develop the bitterness the last couple years) and he lacks the dark bitterness that turned him distrustful and produced his self-isolation. It felt too easy; I wanted the journey and the work more. Since it wasn't "my" Crispin, I didn't feel the romance the way I think I should have between him and Jane.

But the newspapers craft their headlines to sell papers, not facts. If crime has gone up in London, it has not gone up to such an extent that we should repeat the mistakes of the past.

****
It would be difficult, after working alongside the poor, to forgot them in the halls of power. Impossible, too, to think of politics as a game, rather than the machinery through which real lives could be saved or squandered.

Along with Jane’s character, I loved the political tone in this. The subtle jabbing Duran directs towards certain thoughts and ideologies. The pointed reminders of what the point of it all should be and the recriminations of how some people in power can shape and mold opinions and laws toward their benefit. There is a lot of political talk in this one, but in my opinion, the story only flourished from it.

He had never realized how much could be communicated through touch, how much trust and warmth could travel through a hand simply laid over one's arm.

Even though the hero and the romance didn't grab me the way other Duran couples have, there was no lack of her beautifully emotional lines.


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Reading Update: 50%

 I just wanted to watch her exist.

Review: Shooter

Shooter by Dahlia West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

This is a hard one to rate for me. I was really enjoying it up to around the 30-40% mark and the author had to go and include a scene where the hero and his friends turn into d-bags toward a woman obviously just created to make our heroine look better and create some completely unnecessary angst. I disliked it enough that I seriously thought about dnf-ing because I'm sick of stuff like that. Also, if you have a problem with your hero sleeping with someone other than the heroine, there's a moment you're going to hate, author doesn't show scene but reader gets clear idea on what happened. It was such an odd scene because the only time the hero and his friends displayed this attitude was the one scene but talk about leaving a distaste in my mouth.

Anyway, the first half had some really fun contemporary moments.
Ex.:
“So,” Chris said, leaning on his cart. “If I’m not a pirate king or a highlander, what kind of romance novel character am I?”
The checkout girl looked him up and down. “Definitely contemporary. Maybe a fireman or-”
“Army Ranger?” Chris asked teasingly.
The girl picked up a sales flier and fanned herself. “Lord, girl you snagged yourself an Army man?”
“Landlord,” Slick repeated. “Land. Lord. No snagging.”
“We’re having lunch today,” Chris told the checkout girl. “She’s making roast beef sandwiches.”
“There was a sale,” Slick whined. “I like roast beef.”
The checkout girl shook her head. “Girl, you like some kind of beef, I’ll give you that. You take that man home and get some beef, okay?”

A little meta-ness with discussing the heroine's love of romance books and their heroes and some cuteness with Chris our hero actually being a former Army Ranger.

I thought the second half dragged on with too many sex scenes, this could have been edited down about 20% as far as I'm concerned. It would have made the danger Hayley was in feel more prominent and kept the story engaging. Hayley also turned into some kind of Mary Sue/Leave It to Beaver mom that made me wonder if her character was written from a male gaze. Chris stayed the same throughout and while at sometimes seemed one dimensional, he broke out enough times to make him interesting.

Overall, I liked this but the slut shaming and general d-bag attitude towards a woman character was not endearing, at all. The story needed to be edited, would have liked the female characters as complexly written as the male, the serial killer plot could have been formed and strung through better, and the writing could have been cleaned up a bit. Chris' friends are clearly serial bait but their different stories and attitudes have me hooked and I'll give the second book in the series a try.

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Reading Update: 20%

"Maybe he doesn’t want to move on. I mean, people say that all time. Move on. And what they really mean is they want you to forget. So they can forget. But there’s no forgetting, Chris. You cover it up with your shirt, but he can’t do that. He can’t go one single minute without remembering what happened. When everyone around you wants to forget, you can get… isolated. You feel like you’re the only one holding on to something important. Maybe it hurts him that you pretend it didn’t happen. Maybe all he wants is for you to tell him that you won’t forget.”

Review: Someone to Wed

Someone to Wed by Mary Balogh
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.

Wren has hidden herself away from the world but without her aunt and uncle, she has grown lonely. Deciding that her inheritance should be good for something, she decides to buy herself a husband.
Alexander was happy in his life but now finding himself an earl of an impoverished estate, his life has been turned upside down.
What starts off as a business proposition could end up being a fairy tale.

"I am twenty-nine years old, very nearly thirty, and I would like…someone to wed."

Third in the Wescott series we come to Alexander's story. The previous two books set the storyline of the previous Earl of Riverdale dying and exposing that his second marriage was bigamist. His three children are declared bastards while a daughter from the first marriage is found in an orphanage and suddenly legitimate. I did not read the previous two books and appreciated how Balogh smoothly and organically explained how Alexander became the Earl. Balogh relayed important information and characters but didn't info dump and in fact integrated all those previous characters into this story, creating a believable and familial world. You could feasibly start the series here.

Her instinct was to hide behind veils within veils, and she had done it for so long that she did not know how to cast those veils aside.

The star of this story and where most of the heavy emotional lifting comes from is our heroine Wren. She was born with a large birthmark covering half of her face and a mother who puts vanity above all else. When she is ten, her aunt takes her from her home and eventually she and her husband adopt Wren. Unfortunately, those important formative years with her cruel mother keep Wren from having any self-worth. Wren always wears a veil to cover her face unless around her aunt and uncle. When they die she becomes incredibly lonely and decides to buy a husband. Her new neighbor, the Earl of Riverdale, is third on her list for potential husbands but he may be just too good looking.

You'll feel awful for Wren as she uses an ice queen persona to keep her pain and self shielded. Balogh masterfully created a perfect hero for Wren in Alexander. He perfectly complements the situation by being wary of the heroine's pain but also acknowledges it; there are no quick simple solutions in this story. This wasn't even a slow burn but a slow thawing; you'll need to wait until around the half-way mark before our couple starts to really get moving.

I appreciated this building and forming of their relationship but I also thought the second half dragged on a bit. This is definitely not a "modern" historical, characters and mannerisms stay true to the time period, emotions and actions are a bit more constrained. While the larger cast of characters helped create a full world, it also stole away from my lead's romance more than I would have liked, the story had a tendency to slowly meander.

Alexander's sister and mother and how they engaged and tried to understand Wren brought such a wonderful warmth to the story; I love when women characters kindly engage with each other. Alexander and Wren were such intelligent characters but I did think Wren’s internal declaration of love felt a bit quick as I don't think the "special" connection with Alexander had been quite made yet, he was the first and only man to show her attention in her life.

A little slow and meandering towards the end but Wren will have you emotional and incredibly happy that she found the handsome Alexander.


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Reading Update: 15%

"My money would come at too high a price?" she asked.

"There is great pain behind those words," he said. "It is your pain that makes me hesitate, Miss Hoyden."

This hero, y'all. I feel like I'm in for an deep emotional read.