Some Enchanted Evening: pamelad reads romance

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Some Enchanted Evening: pamelad reads romance

1pamelad
Editado: Out 29, 2022, 12:42 am

My historical romance addiction started with a re-read of Georgette Heyer and intensified during the pandemic lockdowns. I read so many, and they're so distinct from my other reading that they deserve their own thread.

Very happy to receive recommendations from fellow addicts, and here is the very useful bookfinder from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

2pamelad
Editado: Out 7, 2023, 5:04 pm

3pamelad
Editado: Out 26, 2023, 12:55 am



2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines Heroines escaping evil fathers and guardians and depraved suitors. Heroines left destitute by fathers and brothers who gambled away the family fortune, or abandoned by dishonourable suitors. Heroines whose lives are blighted by past mistakes

Never Less Than a Lady by Mary Jo Putney
Not Always a Saint by Mary Jo Putney
An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley
Never Resist Temptation by Miranda Neville
Phoebe by Minerva Spencer

7pamelad
Editado: Jan 4, 2023, 5:27 pm



6. Good for a Laugh , or at least a smile or two. Authors who don't take themselves too seriously.

Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase
Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

8pamelad
Editado: Nov 21, 2023, 9:33 pm



7. Why did I Bother? I've read some real rubbish. It goes here. This is another public service.

To All the Earls I've Loved Before by Fenna Edgewood Full of waffle.
A Duke's Sinful Arrangement by Sally Vixen Damaged duke refuses to fall in love and will sleep with a woman only once. Not really practicable, and very risky. Who'd go near him?
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson Dull. Unfinished.
Heir to Edenbrooke Julianne Donaldson. Also dull, but much shorter.
The Boxing Baroness by Minerva Spencer. Female boxer with mysterious parentage and scandalous past falls in love with duke, who becomes her trainer.
Rogue Countess by Amy Sandas
The Heart of an Earl by K J Jackson
Whisper of Scandal by Nicola Cornick

All Steam, No Plot

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas Revolting heroine and boring hero spend most of the book in bed.
Lady Hathaway's Proposal by Suzanna Medeiros
The Christmas Stranger by Anna Campbell

9pamelad
Editado: Out 13, 2023, 4:45 pm

12LadyoftheLodge
Out 28, 2022, 8:03 pm

I like your categories! I will suggest as I am able.

13Tess_W
Out 28, 2022, 8:56 pm

What a great theme!

14DeltaQueen50
Out 28, 2022, 10:11 pm

I'm looking forward to following along!

15pamelad
Out 29, 2022, 12:31 am

>12 LadyoftheLodge: >13 Tess_W: >14 DeltaQueen50: Welcome! If you like your romances frothy, there should be something here for you.

16Helenliz
Out 29, 2022, 6:43 am

Happy to follow along. I'm working my way through Heyer's romances and hope to make more progress on those this year.

17majkia
Out 29, 2022, 7:55 am

Great fun. Good luck!

18NinieB
Out 29, 2022, 8:29 am

I'm impressed by the public service efforts of this thread! Looking forward to following along.

19rabbitprincess
Out 29, 2022, 8:37 am

I'm not a romance reader but I always enjoy reading your thoughtful reviews, so looking forward to following along. And now I have "Some Enchanted Evening" stuck in my head.

20MissWatson
Out 29, 2022, 9:01 am

I always enjoy your reviews, thanks for the service!

21VivienneR
Out 29, 2022, 2:03 pm

Generally I don't read romance but of course I'll be following along. I enjoyed your Georgette Heyer reviews and you may have made a convert except her books are hard to find. Happy reading!

22LadyoftheLodge
Out 29, 2022, 2:05 pm

>21 VivienneR: I found a few at the huge book sale I attended a few weeks ago. I also have some on my Kindle, if you like to read ebooks.

23VivienneR
Out 29, 2022, 2:10 pm

>22 LadyoftheLodge: Lucky find! I checked Kindle but hesitate paying $10 or more for a book that would probably be my last choice to read. Now if it was a mystery...

24pamelad
Out 29, 2022, 7:24 pm

>16 Helenliz: Enjoy Georgette!
>17 majkia: Thank you!
>18 NinieB: Thank you. I'm here to help!
>19 rabbitprincess: This original version by Giorgio Tozzi is so good!
>20 MissWatson: Thank you!
>21 VivienneR: Good luck with finding some affordable Georgette Heyers. I borrowed a lot of them on Overdrive and CloudLibrary. They're also available on the Open Library. The hourly borrow can be annoying, but there are so many interesting books there, some you can't find anywhere else.
>22 LadyoftheLodge: Good find!

25LadyoftheLodge
Out 29, 2022, 8:08 pm

>23 VivienneR: Georgette Heyer wrote some mysteries too!

26JayneCM
Out 29, 2022, 10:57 pm

I do love all the older romance covers - so dramatic!
My mum had all those old Georgette Heyers with the purple on the covers - I devoured them and have been meaning to reread some.

27MissBrangwen
Out 30, 2022, 3:23 am

I am quite new to this genre, so I am looking forward to getting some BBs from this thread!
I an currently listening to my first Georgette Heyer novel, The Black Moth.

28LadyoftheLodge
Editado: Out 30, 2022, 10:08 am

29pamelad
Out 30, 2022, 5:03 pm

>25 LadyoftheLodge: I liked her mysteries, but some of her contemporaries wrote better ones, whereas for romances she's unparallelled.
>26 JayneCM: If you add all the Georgette Heyers to your wish list, you could almost get it to 7000! They're worth moving to the top.
>27 MissBrangwen: I've enjoyed all the Heyers with a single name title: Frederica, Arabella, Venetia.

A non-Heyer recommendation is Laura Kinsale's Flowers from the Storm.

30JayneCM
Out 30, 2022, 5:28 pm

>29 pamelad: I will have to look and see how many my library has. I know they have reprinted a lot of them, not sure about all as she was such a prolific writer.

31pamelad
Out 30, 2022, 5:51 pm

Why wait for 2023?

4. Steamless

The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews

Julia Wychwood's awful parents are selfish hypochondriacs who inflict dangerous medical procedures on their daughter and treat her as though her only reason for being is to look after them. Poor Julia is anxious and withdrawn and hates the social grind of the ton's marriage market.

Jasper Blunt, a hero of the Crimean War, has a reputation for brutality and licentiousness and has three illegitimate children living on his crumbling estate. He needs a wife with a big dowry and a family that takes no interest in her. Julia seems perfect, but she'd have to be desperate to accept his proposal.

I liked this, despite being a bit annoyed by the big secret that's obvious from the beginning, and the tedious misunderstandings that threaten to derail Jasper's and Julia's happy ending.

My favourite Mimi Matthews so far is The Matrimonial Advertisement.

32JayneCM
Out 31, 2022, 1:52 am

>31 pamelad: I like this category as I too prefer my romance with less!

33MissBrangwen
Out 31, 2022, 5:18 am

>29 pamelad: Thank you, I will have a look at Flowers from the Storm!

>31 pamelad: The Matrimonial Advertisement was the first book of this kind I read (or rather listened to), it was a BB from Christina_reads. I enjoyed it so much and it made me want to read more of this genre. I think I will get to The Belle of Belgrave Square sooner or later. Great review!

34christina_reads
Out 31, 2022, 12:12 pm

I am SO on board for this challenge theme! I'll be eagerly checking in to see what you read. >31 pamelad: I had similar thoughts on The Belle of Belgrave Square; Jasper's big secrets were indeed obvious, but I liked the book anyway. I thought The Matrimonial Advertisement was a better version of the same basic plot idea.

35pamelad
Out 31, 2022, 6:05 pm

>34 christina_reads: A cheerful, well-written historical romance is so comforting to read. Your threads have supplied some really good ones!

I've added another category, 8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands There's likely to be some cross-over with the Damaged Dukes category, because some of these men have become rakes because of their tragic pasts.

A Rogue's Downfall by Mary Balogh fits into the new category. This is a collection of three novellas, each with the theme of a rake finding the one woman for whom he will give up his wicked ways. Balogh's rakes fit in the "whore with a heart of gold" category, and these stories are all quite similar. Pleasant enough.

36dudes22
Out 31, 2022, 9:33 pm

Great idea for a challenge although I'm not usually a reader of historical romance novels.

37pamelad
Editado: Nov 3, 2022, 2:28 am

>36 dudes22: Welcome! If you can ignore your internal literary critic, Historical Romance Land can be a comforting place to escape to.

6. Good for a Laugh

Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase

The third book in The Dressmakers series, which is about the three Noirot sisters. Their lineage is aristocratic, but their parents were irresponsible adventurers and the sisters had to survive on the streets of Paris in the chaotic aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars 1832 cholera epidemic. They arrived in London penniless and set up a dressmaking salon. Leonie is the youngest sister, and with her two older sisters occupied elsewhere, is managing the business. While subtly touting for clients at a Boticelli exhibition she runs into the gorgeous Lord Lisburne, recently arrived from the continent to support his equally gorgeous aristocratic cousin, Lord Swanton, a poet. Lisburne and Swanton inadvertently create havoc in Leonie's well-ordered life.

No angst, no melodrama. Light, cheerful and amusing. It's not as exuberantly ridiculous as Don't Tempt Me and the characters don't have the depth of those in Lord of Scoundrels, but I enjoyed it.

Other writers I've liked, who don't usually take themselves too seriously, are Eloisa James and Laura Kinsale.

38pamelad
Editado: Nov 3, 2022, 2:27 am

6. Good for a Laugh

Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

The first book in The Dressmakers series. Marcelline, a widow with a small daughter, is the oldest of the three Noirot sisters. She's in Paris, stalking the Duke of Clevedon who has been there for three years sowing wild oats. He and his family assume he will marry a beautiful young woman he has known since childhood, and Marcelline wants her as a client. From their first meeting, Marcelline and Clevedon are madly attracted to each other, but there are so many apparently insurmountable obstacles to a future between them that they deny feeling anything more than a passing infatuation. We shall see!

Nothing special, but I enjoyed it.

It's a stretch to describe The Dressmakers series as good for a laugh, but the books raise a smile or two, and they're cheerful. I'm trying to think of a new title for a broader category.

It's set around 1835, which is post-Regency. William is on the throne. Many members of Marcelline's family died in the 1832 cholera outbreak.

39dudes22
Nov 3, 2022, 7:37 am

>37 pamelad: - I hope you don't think I was being critical. Who knows - I've probably read some and just didn't realize that they were historical romance. There's just so much to read!! I'll still be sticking around to see what's interesting.

40AmeliaCuthbert
Nov 3, 2022, 7:46 am

Este utilizador foi removido como sendo spam.

41pamelad
Nov 3, 2022, 4:33 pm

>39 dudes22: Not all all! Just acknowledging that they're a guilty pleasure. If someone asks me what I'm reading, I'm more likely to volunteer The Colony and mention that it was on the Booker longlist than to say The Siren of Sussex.

42LadyoftheLodge
Nov 3, 2022, 7:57 pm

>41 pamelad: I get that! I don’t generally reveal that I am reading Countess by Christmas or The Brides of Bath.

43pamelad
Editado: Nov 5, 2022, 6:36 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas

Last year I read the first two books in The Ravenals series and liked them, so I thought I'd enjoy Devil in Spring. The ghastly heroine is a collection of ailments and idiosyncracies. The boring hero is a characterless duke who is tediously perfect, and inexplicably attracted to the gruesome heroine. There are chapters of graphic sex scenes, and a sudden drama late in the book involving Irish anarchists, home office traitors and a narrowly averted bombing that would have destroyed the Prince of Wales and most of the haut tonthat appears to have been included to increase the page count.

Big disappointment.

And there's flatware!

44pamelad
Nov 6, 2022, 2:52 am

7. Why did I Bother?

To All the Earls I've Loved Before by Fenna Edgewood

Sorry Willy and Julio. Fenna has let you down.

The characters behaved strangely for the sake of the plot. Sentimental, with too many steamy insertions, and really dull. Unnecessary misunderstandings keep the hero and heroine apart, despite their deep and instant love. I tried this author because her books are on Kindle Unlimited. There's a family of daughters and it looks as though each one will get her own book, but I won't be reading them.

The hero is a duke, as usual.

45pamelad
Editado: Nov 7, 2022, 6:42 pm

I've abandoned a horde of Kindle Unlimited romances for bad writing. Rain thundering heavily? Unless you're making a tautology collection there's no need to continue.

I'll replace the abandoned category with another that will make itself known.

I have fond memories of Alexander Buzo's book, Tautology: I Don't Want to Sound Incredulous but I Can't Believe It, which is very funny. Some misery gave it one star. Perhaps I will give it a nostalgic five to even things up, despite having read it forty years ago and it not being in print.

46LadyoftheLodge
Nov 7, 2022, 4:42 pm

>45 pamelad: Laughing here!

47pamelad
Editado: Nov 7, 2022, 6:57 pm

>46 LadyoftheLodge:

I've given Buzo's book five stars and located a library copy. Looking forward to indulging my nostalgia for the past (2) by reading this timeless classic (3).

48JayneCM
Nov 7, 2022, 8:43 pm

>45 pamelad: Hysterical!

49pamelad
Nov 13, 2022, 4:27 am

Another tautology, the title of an email I received from Qatar Airways: Rediscover the world again.

50clue
Nov 14, 2022, 3:56 pm

I'm dropping a star and look forward to following your romances. I haven't read much romance in recent years because there are so many out there and I have a hard time choosing! Heyer I loved, I read most of them years ago but I'm probably due for a reread!

51pamelad
Editado: Nov 14, 2022, 4:26 pm

>50 clue: Welcome!

I'm adding a category for hybrids, books like Sheri Cobb South's John Pickett series and perhaps Karen Charlton's Detective Lavender series, which are light mysteries that feature ongoing will they, won't they romances between the main characters. Romantic suspense like Mary Stewart's books would fit in too. They're usually Steamless.

52lowelibrary
Nov 14, 2022, 10:26 pm

Not much of a romance reader, but following hoping to be inspired to read the large collection I have.

53mnleona
Nov 15, 2022, 7:33 am

I also like historical romance and Steamless. Great themes.

54pamelad
Nov 15, 2022, 3:32 pm

>52 lowelibrary: I hope you find something - an easy read on a rainy day, total escapism.

>53 mnleona: When they're too steamy I feel like a voyeur and skip those bits, so it's good to know which books are safe to read!

55LadyoftheLodge
Nov 16, 2022, 1:22 pm

>54 pamelad: Well stated. I do the same thing if there are steamy bits. Sometimes those scenes feel as if they were dropped in from nowhere and don’t add to the story at all.

56pamelad
Editado: Mar 19, 2023, 6:01 pm

2. What Price for This Heroine?

A Christmas Affair to Remember by Mia Vincy

Sylvia has been left almost destitute by the death of her charming, selfish husband, who was a reckless, self-deceiving conman. She is struggling to support herself by making and selling medicinal cordials and has become friendly with a customer who has invited her to a Christmas house party. There she meets Isaac, who went to sea at ten years old and has had very little to do with women. Sylvia is about to marry a miserable hypochondriac just to have somewhere to live and enough to eat, while Isaac wants to find a wife but has never even successfully kissed a woman. An affair would suit them both. Sylvia will have some happiness and excitement before marrying a man who wants nursemaid rather than a wife, and Isaac will get the experience he needs to court a wife and make her happy. Sylvia is seven years older than Isaac, and not at all the woman he is looking for, so they do not contemplate falling in love.

It's not steamless, given the theme, but neither is it a detailed "how-to" manual with pages of graphic detail. Light and cheerful with a lively writing style.

This longish novella is free for subscribers to Mia Vincy's newsletter, which I am because she's Australian and living in Victoria. It is part of the Longhope Abbey series, and a few of the characters from the other books make an appearance, so it's probably best to read them first. The first one, A Wicked Kind of Husband was a bit of a mess, but had potential so I read the others, which I liked more.

A Dangerous Kind of Lady is on sale for about $1.

57pamelad
Editado: Nov 26, 2022, 4:43 pm

10. Everything Else

I've created a new category for books that don't quite fit into the existing ones. Might re-jig the categories later on.

A Day for Love by Mary Balogh

Three novellas, all taking place on Valentine's Day. Not quite long enough to introduce the unlikely potential couple, have them fall in love, and marry them off. (Can't find the touchstone, so will try to fix it later. Fixed.)

A Fool Again by Eloisa James

Genevieve's elderly husband has just died, and his peculiar will has given her almost no choice but to marry his business partner, Lucius Felton. Fortunately, Genevieve finds him very attractive, but unfortunately, he's a cold fish. Genevieve's father forced the marriage with the old man because he'd apprehended his daughter on the way to Gretna Green with the highly unsuitable Tobias Darby, who subsequently fled to India. Now that Genevieve is free, Tobias is back.

Another novella, but almost long enough to be a novel. Will Genevieve and Tobias end up together, or will misunderstandings keep them apart?

I read these because these two books because they're on Overdrive and their writers are fairly reliable. OK, but I wouldn't bother if they weren't free.

What I'd really like to find is an author I haven't come across before who has written lots of entertaining, grammatical books, all of them available on Overdrive or CloudLibrary. I might even have to branch out into a different time period. Mediaeval has never really appealed, but perhaps it's worth a try.

58mnleona
Nov 26, 2022, 5:05 pm

>57 pamelad: Sounds like a good category.

59pamelad
Nov 29, 2022, 3:34 pm

10. Everything Else

Midnight Pleasures by Eloisa James

The heroine is madly attracted to hero but rejects him because she doesn't want a husband she loves. Her parents' disastrous marriage has led her to believe that her father's extreme philandering is the norm, so she becomes engaged to a good-natured thick wit, but the rejected hero refuses to accept defeat. The pair are driven apart by the usual tedious misunderstandings, mis-hearings and lack of communication that stand in for the plot in second-rate romances. There is a secondary plot that involves spying, but it seems like filler.

Eloisa James is hit or miss. This is one of her misses, but the writing is OK, so it doesn't belong in the Why Did I Bother category.

>58 mnleona: It's turning out to be very useful.

60JayneCM
Nov 30, 2022, 12:48 am

I just decided to finally get Kindle Unlimited as it is two months for free at the moment. There are a TON of Regency romances!

61pamelad
Nov 30, 2022, 3:35 pm

>60 JayneCM: A lot of them aren't worth reading, which didn't stop me. I quite liked Clare Darcy and Alice Chetwynd Ley who wrote Georgette Heyer knock-offs and Seeing Miss Heartstone by Nichole Van, all of which are fairly steamless.

Kindle Unlimited is better for vintage crime than for romance: Anthony Berkeley, Dorothy Bowers, E C R Lorac, Shelley Smith, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Hilda Lawrence.

Enjoy!

62pamelad
Nov 30, 2022, 4:05 pm

4. Steamless

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Winner! Good writing, humour, well-drawn, appealing characters. Kitty Talbot, the eldest of five sisters, has just been jilted by her rich fiancé. She doesn't love him, or even like him very much, but needs his money. Her parents died of typhoid, leaving the girls with an enormous mortgage payment due in a few months and no way of paying it. Kitty calls on an old friend of her mother for help. The retired "actress", who has re-invented herself as a respectable widow, invites Kitty to London and requests that she bring her prettiest sister. Charlotte, the vague and boring intellectual, is certainly not Kitty's favourite sister, but she is the prettiest, and has the advantage of having spent a couple of years at a school for young ladies. Through Charlotte Kitty meets the de Lacey family and launches a ruthless campaign to marry the younger son, Archie. But Archie's older brother James, Lord Radcliffe, who has been hiding from the world on his country estate since he returned from Waterloo, descends on London determined to save his brother from the fortune-hunting parvenu.

63christina_reads
Nov 30, 2022, 4:08 pm

>62 pamelad: I really liked that one too! I think I saw that Irwin is coming out with another book sometime in 2023, and if so, I'll definitely be reading it!

64MissWatson
Dez 1, 2022, 1:26 pm

>62 pamelad: Oh, this one sounds very enticing!

65JayneCM
Dez 2, 2022, 1:37 am

>61 pamelad: I did see there were a lot of vintage mysteries on KU, including lots of the Agatha Christies that my library doesn't have.

66mnleona
Dez 2, 2022, 12:12 pm

>65 JayneCM: There are some audio books on You Tube by Agatha Christie.

67pamelad
Editado: Dez 4, 2022, 5:49 am

I might have to re-jig the categories because too many books are going into

10. Everything Else

The Wild Child by Mary Jo Putney is the first book in The Bride Trilogy. It features my least favourite type of heroine, the whimsical, ethereal sprite. Her name is Meriel, perhaps to recall Ariel in The Tempest? Meriel's parents were murdered, along with many others, when an Indian castle was besieged by bandits and set alight. The five-year-old Meriel was saved and taken to a harem. After a year she was returned to her English uncles. She does not speak, and flits around in the flowers in a distracted way so that her relatives believe she is simple, and perhaps insane. Even so, an uncle has arranged a possible betrothal to Kyle, the heir of the Renbournes, because if he died her other uncle would put her in an asylum, so a husband could protect her. Kyle has been invited to spend a few weeks on Meriel's estate to get to know her, but he has an important duty that cannot be postponed, so he sends his identical twin brother Domenic, in his place.

This was far too long and, as I mentioned, has a revolting heroine. However, by the end of the book she has undergone a total personality change. There are some interesting bits about mental asylums and how easy it was to incarcerate an inconvenient wife. I'm trying to think of the title of a book written by an American journalist who faked a mental illness in order to expose the treatment of women in asylums and will add it here when I find it.

Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nelly Bly - well worth reading. Briefly reviewed here.

The China Bride by Mary Jo Putney is the second book in The Bride Trilogy, and features Kyle from the first book. He's in China and has met a Eurasian woman who is masquerading as a man and destined to become his bride, but not for long because it appears he is going to be executed, or at least everyone will think so. You can't really kill off the hero. Sounds exciting, but it's not at all. So very long and dull that I had to give up on it.

To Catch an Heiress by Julia Quinn

Pros: Light, breezy and amusing.
Cons: The characters speak contemporary, colloquial American and I just can't bear it!

68pamelad
Editado: Dez 4, 2022, 5:52 am

2. What Price for This Heroine?

Never Less Than a Lady by Mary Jo Putney

Julia was married at sixteen to an evil, violent man. He died during a drunken attack on his wife, and his father, an earl, blames Julia as does her own father, a duke, who has disowned her. She is living incognito and supporting herself as a midwife when her father-in-law's paid thugs abduct her. Fortunately, Major Randall, who had met Julia in the first book of the Lost Lords series, is in the vicinity. I haven't read the first book because it sounds too ludicrous, not in an amusing way because Putney doesn't have a sense of humour.

Randall proposes marriage to Julia in order to protect her from the earl, even though she thinks she is barren and has been so turned off by her husband's violence that she doesn't want to marry again.

There are lots of Putney’s books on Overdrive, but I'm not much of a Putney fan. Too gushy, too sentimental, too long, too dull. Too many evil men, and women who need protection from them.

69pamelad
Dez 4, 2022, 8:34 pm

2. What Price for This Heroine?

Not Always a Saint by Mary Jo Putney

I wasn't going to read another, but this was on my Kindle. It must have been a Daily deal or a freebie. The story is not quite identical to Never Less Than a Lady, but close enough. The heroine is married at sixteen to an evil, violent man. When it seems that her past will catch up with her, she marries the hero for protection.

70pamelad
Editado: Dez 5, 2022, 4:58 pm

10. Everything Else

Not Quite a Wife by Mary Jo Putney

The sixth book in The Lost Lords series, preceding Not Always a Saint and featuring the saint's saintly sister Laurel. At seventeen Laurel married an earl, saw a side of his character she couldn't deal with, and left. For ten years she has been living with her saintly brother, managing a free clinic and a home for battered women. (She's sitting in the office doing the accounts and wondering why England doesn't have decimal currency. As if!) Battered women are a recurring theme in Putney's books.

Laurel is too holy for my liking and talks too much about her faith. The plot is more than usually ridiculous. The hero, James, Lord Kirkland, suffering a malaria attack, is robbed, beaten and left unconscious in an alley. Good Samaritans deliver him to the free clinic where he is treated by his estranged wife. In his delirium he forgets that he and Laurel are estranged, and she misses him, so they have a quickie in the surgery. James doesn't remember and Laurel doesn't tell him, but she ends up pregnant.

I keep reading these because they're available, which is not a good enough reason. Perhaps I should clean the windows instead.

71JayneCM
Dez 6, 2022, 5:41 am

>70 pamelad: Clean windows are overrated! :)

72pamelad
Dez 6, 2022, 4:33 pm

>70 pamelad: Yes! Better to change genres than to clean windows. Another Mary Jo Putney and I might contemplate cleaning the oven!

73pamelad
Editado: Mar 19, 2023, 6:05 pm

5. Second Chances

Ruined by the Reckless Viscount by Sophia James

The hero kidnaps the heroine, thinking she is someone else. The resulting scandal destroys her hopes of marriage, and she isolates herself in the country where she becomes a renowned painter, under a male name. The viscount was almost killed by the heroine's father and, after a slow recovery, left for America, so he has no idea that he has destroyed the heroine's life. The heroine wants to know more about her abductor, so she dresses as a man to paint his portrait.

This was nothing special, but quite readable and shows some attention to historical detail. Sophia James is from New Zealand.

74pamelad
Editado: Mar 19, 2023, 6:09 pm

Slightly Married and Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh are the first two books in the Bedwyn series, and possibly the best. I'd borrowed the rest of the series from the Open Library, but these two weren't available. Ebooks of the series aren't available in Australia, which is a shame because in paper copies the print just keeps getting smaller. Anyway, these paperbacks, which were fortunately available in a library not too far from home, encouraged me to break in my newish prescription reading glasses which I'd used without enthusiasm for a chapter months ago, then abandoned.

3. Must We?
Slightly Married is about Aidan, the second Bedwyn son, heir to his brother, the childless duke. Aidan, an army colonel who fought at Waterloo, swore to a dying comrade that he would protect the man's sister. When Aidan arrives at the woman's estate, he finds that she is about to lose her home unless she marries within a week, so he proposes a marriage of convenience on the understanding that after the wedding they never see one another again. All very unlikely, but this is a romance novel! I enjoyed it.

10. Everything Else
Slightly Wicked is about Rannulf, the third Bedwyn son. On his way to his grandmother's house he comes across Judith, who has been stranded, with her fellow stage passengers, when a wheel came off the stage. She is on her way to be an unpaid companion at the house of an unpleasant aunt and, pretending to be an actress, has a fling with Rannulf so she will have something to look back on during the rest of her miserable life. Both she and Rannulf are using false names so are unlikely to meet again, but in romance land that's not a possibility. The awful aunt is the mother of a vain, empty-headed twerp who lives near Rannulf's grandmother, who is desperate for Rannulf to marry soon. I enjoyed this one too.

75pamelad
Editado: Dez 14, 2022, 3:35 pm

I could do with a Marriage of Convenience category, so might combine the What Price for This Heroine and Father was a Gambler categories. Thinking of a new title.

3. Must We? is for marriages of convenience. Slightly Married fits here.

76pamelad
Dez 14, 2022, 3:50 pm

3. Must We?

Salt Bride by Lucinda Brant begins with a marriage of convenience. The heroine needs to marry so that her step-brother can get control of his fortune. The unwilling hero promised the heroine's father years ago that he would marry her and hopes she will release him from the obligation. They were once in love, but a psychopathic sister-in-law kept them apart.

This one is Georgian. The writing is OK (apart from a couple of jarring incidences of "play nice") and the hero and heroine deserve a happy ending, but I'm not a psychopath fan. I prefer froth.

It's free on Kindle.

77christina_reads
Dez 15, 2022, 5:39 pm

>75 pamelad: I love a marriage of convenience plot, so I approve of your new category. :) Glad you're enjoying the Bedwyn books!

78lkernagh
Dez 18, 2022, 7:03 pm

Stopping by with best wishes for your 2023 reading! While I do not typically read romance, I do enjoy your reviews (especially for the books that fit the Why did I Bother? category).

79pamelad
Dez 18, 2022, 8:38 pm

>78 lkernagh: Welcome! The Why Did I Bother reviews are definitely the easiest and most entertaining to write. Being fair and positive is much more of an effort.

80pamelad
Editado: Dez 19, 2022, 4:01 pm

3. Must We?

I'm including forced marriages, e.g. hero compromises heroine and must make amends, in this marriage of convenience category.

Now that I've broken in the reading glasses, I'm finding print copies of books that aren't available as ebooks, or are too expensive. (I can't afford to buy too many $12 ebooks at the rate I read). I've started a Mary Balogh series from the nineties, The Four Horsemen, and have read the first two. The four horsemen are comrades from a cavalry regiment that fought at Waterloo. They all sold out at the same time.

Indiscreet by Mary Balogh

The beautiful, mysterious young widow, Catherine Winters, has been living for five years in a small cottage in the village adjoining the estate of Claude Adams, twin brother of Rex, Viscount Rawleigh. When Catherine smiles at the viscount, mistaking him for Claude, he thinks she is signalling her interest in an affair. His relentless pursuit compromises the reputation that she has tried so hard to establish.

I enjoyed this, though I wish that Balogh's editors would remove the many repetitions.

Unforgiven by Mary Balogh

At the end of Indiscreet another of the horsemen, Kenneth Woodfall, Earl of Haverford, receives a letter that gives him no choice but to marry a woman he has known since childhood, but who is now an enemy. If they hate one another, how on earth did she become pregnant to him? When Moira Hayes escaped a ball and fled into a snowstorm, she took shelter in a huntsman's shed where she was found by Kenneth. He convinced her that they needed to "make love" in order to keep warm! Kenneth and Moira were once in love, despite their families being enemies for generations, but each of them believes that the other has betrayed them. Until their recent meeting, they had not seen one another for 8 years.

Can Moira and Kenneth overcome this unrealistic plot and rediscover their love?

I quite enjoyed this, despite the annoying plot. Miscommunications and misunderstandings keep the hero and heroine apart. Tiresome.

81pamelad
Dez 20, 2022, 3:44 pm

10. Everything Else

Irresistible by Mary Balogh is the third book in The Four Horsemen series and marries off the remaining two horsemen, Nathaniel Gascoigne and Eden, Lord Pelham. The romance between Eden and Nathaniel's ward, Lavinia, is an amusing sub-plot, with the main romance between Nathaniel and the widow, Sophie Armitage.

Sophie is an old friend from campaign days when she followed the drum with her husband Walter. Theirs was an unsuccessful marriage, for a secret reason that is obvious from the beginning, and Sophie sees herself as dowdy and undesirable. Walter died performing an act of bravery which gave him such posthumous fame that Sophie was rewarded with a house and a pension, but Sophie is being blackmailed because of Walter's secret life. She has secretly (so many secrets!) loved Nathaniel for years so offers to be his lover.

The blackmailer and Sophie's lack of confidence postpone Nathaniel's and Sophie's happy ending. Tiresome miscommunications again! Even so, I enjoyed Irresistible.

I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to tell you that there's a happy ending!

82pamelad
Editado: Dez 23, 2022, 5:17 pm

4. Steamless

Aurora by D. G. Rampton

Aurora and her brother Percy, a missing marquess, are on their way to London when Aurora holds up the hero. A start like that takes a lot of getting over, and I didn't quite manage it. The heroine is modelled on The Grand Sophy, but her behaviour is unbelievable because the author lacks Georgette Heyer's lightness and her familiarity with Regency mores.

I found out, on finishing this book, that the author has re-written Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South for a modern American audience, which demonstrates her appalling lack of taste. Here it is on Amazon. How arrogant! How exploitative! How crass!

83clue
Dez 23, 2022, 10:32 pm

>82 pamelad: I had read that and couldn't believe it, though I don't know why. Its pushed me to a rereading of North and South in 2023 which I've been meaning to do for years!

84pamelad
Dez 26, 2022, 1:03 am

>83 clue: I suppose it's marketing, but I thought the author's comments on the shortcomings of the original and on the ways that her re-write improved it demonstrated her questionable literary taste. As for the Dickens complaint, well he was a competitor, and not known for brevity himself! I'm glad you re-read North and South and think I will too.

85pamelad
Editado: Dez 26, 2022, 1:45 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Scoundrel of My Heart, The Duchess Hunt and The Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath comprise the Once Upon a Dukedom trilogy.

Scoundrel of My Heart Griffith Stanwick is a duke's spare, ignored by his father who was interested only in his heir, Marcus. Griff is in love with Kathryn, whose grandmother has left her a cottage, but only if she marries a peer, so Griff is ineligible. Plus, he's a gambler, and Kathryn doesn't like them. Unfortunately she's very much attracted to Griff, despite his short-comings and, when his father is hanged for treason for plotting to kill Queen Victoria she sticks by him, though now he believes he is not good enough for her. Another complication is that she's being courted by a duke whom Griffith wants her to marry.

The Duchess Hunt The duke from book one is still looking for a bride. He believes he has no love to offer, so wants a woman who won't love him. What he hasn't realised is that he is in love with his secretary.

The Return of the Duke Marcus lives in the shadows. He is trying to find his father's co-conspirators and bring them to justice so that he can restore the family honour. His investigations lead him to a woman who was thought to be his father's mistress. You can probably guess most of the rest, but might be surprised when the widowed Queen Victoria turns up as a character accompanied by John Brown with whom she waltzes at a ball despite being in deep mourning for Prince Albert.

I was looking for mindless escapism, and this series delivered. All three couples are instantly lust-struck, which is not my favourite thing, but is to be expected in Lorraine Heath's books. Her main advantage is that her writing is grammatical and easy to read though, from time to time, people say "It's complicated," eat "baked goods" (pies, do you think? It's an oddly general term.) and live in "town homes".

86thornton37814
Dez 27, 2022, 9:31 am

Hope you have a great year of reading!

87christina_reads
Dez 27, 2022, 3:48 pm

>82 pamelad: I got all excited for a minute, thinking that Rampton had done a modern retelling of North and South (which I would 100% read). But then I clicked the Amazon link and realized the error of my ways. Appalling!

88pamelad
Editado: Dez 29, 2022, 5:57 pm

>86 thornton37814: Thank you.

>87 christina_reads: Appalling is right!

2. What Price for This Heroine

Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine Heath is the last book in the Sins for All Seasons series. The heroine, Althea, is the sister of Marcus and Griffith Stanwick from the Once Upon a Dukedom trilogy, and the hero, Benjamin (Beast) Trewlove is an orphan who was fortunate enough to be left with a woman who nurtured the children left in her care and made them into a family.

Since her family's estate was confiscated by the crown, Althea has been working in a tavern and living in a slum. Benjamin, aka Beast, is a rich man, having earned enough working as a labourer on the docks to buy his first ship (!) and ploughing the profits into his shipping business. He lives in a brothel because he wants to protect the women who work there (!) and to help them find other work. Beast employs Althea to train the women in ladylike behaviour. Because Althea has decided that life as a courtesan would give her more independence than she had as a daughter or would have as a wife, she persuades Beast to train her in seduction.

I've come across a useful romance classification - closed door vs open door. Heath's books are too open door so I skipped bits. But there are lots of Heath's books on Overdrive, so I read a few more.

10. Everything else

When a Duke Loves a Woman by Lorraine Heath

Gillie Trewlove runs a tavern. One night she finds a man, who turns out to be a duke, being robbed and stabbed. She turns away the attackers and nurses the duke back to health. Their love can never be because dukes cannot marry tavern keepers, and anyway, Gillie doesn't want to give up her independence. This book is just as silly as it sounds.

I appreciate Heath's efforts to use British English and am highly amused by the women whose knees turn to jam. Jelly in that context is not jam: it's the quivering refrigerated dessert set with gelatine.

89pamelad
Editado: Jan 1, 2023, 5:36 pm

10. Everything else

Two more from Lorraine Heath's Sins for All Seasons series: The Scoundrel in Her Bed and The Duchess in His Bed.

Finn and Aiden have the same father, an evil earl with multiple mistresses, and were born within six months of each other, so they're even closer than the other orphans in the Trewlove family. Finn fell in love with an earl's daughter who, ten years on, is the woman who ran away from the duke in When a Duke Loves a Woman. I skipped the chapters about their youthful love affair, and the open-door bits as well, but half a book was enough. Similarly, in Aiden's story, where he falls in love with a widowed Duchess, I skipped the open-door bits which were the majority of the book. So now I've caught up on the lives of all but two Trewlove orphans and am happy to assume that, as with the others, all will end well for them.

4. Steamless

One from The Elizabeth Chater Regency Romance Collection: Gamester. I'd forgotten the two Elizabeth Chater books I'd read and given two stars to. All the characters in this story are annoying, and the writing is bland, so it can have two stars as well and I won't read the rest.

90LadyoftheLodge
Dez 31, 2022, 1:27 pm

>89 pamelad: Bummer! That was a freebee on Amazon and I just downloaded it.

91pamelad
Editado: Jan 1, 2023, 5:36 pm

>90 LadyoftheLodge: You might like it more than I did. I've read too many romances in a row and am a bit jaded.

I've changed its category to Steamless.

92pamelad
Editado: Jan 1, 2023, 5:52 pm

7. Why Did I Bother?

A Duke's Sinful Arrangement by Sally Vixen

I read this because it's free on Amazon Prime, which is not a good enough reason. The duke only ever sleeps with a woman once because he was hurt in the past and doesn't want to fall in love. The widowed Sophia is looking for excitement. Will the duke break his rule?

Very risky behaviour on the duke's part. Stay away, Sophia.

This was the last romance of 2022. I hope to make it the last entry in the Why Did I Bother? category.

93pamelad
Editado: Jan 5, 2023, 4:16 pm

Normally I'm very frugal with the stars for romances, but now that they have their own category they could do with their own rating system. I'll compare like with like and rate them on the basis of how much I enjoyed them. I don't think I can give a romance five stars, but who knows?

5 stars - reserved for something absolutely exceptional

4 - 4.5 stars - hugely entertaining; witty; authentic historical detail

3 - 3.5 stars - entertaining and well-written, but missing something

2 - 2.5 stars - readable

.5 - 1.5 - not worth finishing

I'm taking points off for: anachronisms; Americanisms; bad grammar; unfunny humour; incorrect vocabulary; too informal a register; depravity and violence; too much sex; lack of, or incorrect, historical detail; excessive, gooey sentimentality; preachiness.

94pamelad
Editado: Jan 4, 2023, 5:10 pm

10. Everything else

Nice Earls Do by Susanna Craig

This Regency romance novella is the prequel to new series, Goode's Guide to Misconduct. It provides the background to the setting up of Goode's Guide.

Kit, Lord Stallbridge, a bachelor, has to set up a nursery for his brother’s orphaned children, so his housekeeper contacts Mrs Goode, of the “Guide to Housekeeping” for advice. Tabetha, the pseudo Mrs Goode, widowed after twenty unhappy years of marriage, arrives at Kit’s estate with her male secretary, Oliver, in order to oversee the nursery renovations. She is shocked to find that Kit is an old friend, the man she would have married had her father not forced her to marry nasty Lord Manwaring.

The novella is too short to establish any depth of character for Kit, Tabetha and Oliver or to give more than an inkling of their back stories, but all three are kind, generous people who deserve a happy ending. A cheerful, angst-free read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Thinking of adding a second chance romance category.

95MissBrangwen
Jan 5, 2023, 10:06 am

>93 pamelad: Interesting post (especially the criteria for taking off points)!

96pamelad
Jan 5, 2023, 4:14 pm

>95 MissBrangwen: Adding more. Points off for sentimentality and preachiness!

97pamelad
Jan 5, 2023, 11:00 pm

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

The Lady Knows Best by Susanna Craig is the first book in the new series, Goode's Guide to Misconduct.

Daphne is the second-youngest member of the Burke family from the Rogues and Rebels series and is overshadowed by her brilliant siblings. When Lady Stallbridge offers her the advice column in Mrs Goode's magazine for independent young women, Daphne assumes the offer was made because of her family connections but takes it on with enthusiasm all the same. In her very first column she advises a young woman, betrothed against her will to a rake, to break the engagement. On meeting the rejected fiance, Miles, Viscount Deveraux, who has wagered that he will be married by the end of the season, Daphne is attracted despite herself, but plans use the experience for an instructional pamphlet on identifying and resisting the attractions of a rake. In order to spend time with Deveraux, and to prevent him from revealing her role on the magazine, she offers to marry him herself, fully determined to humiliate him by breaking the engagement.

I've read all the Burke family books and, unfortunately, Daphne is the least interesting sibling. Miles doesn't stand out either. Sterling qualities lurk beneath his rakish facade, and it doesn't take long for Miles and Daphne to recognise each other's worth. We need more backstory for these two so that we can become more engaged with their romance.

Overall, this was a cheerful, entertaining read, with pleasant characters and not a lot of drama. It ends with hints of a romance between two other characters we've met in this book: Miles's reliable friend and a frizzy-haired ironical illustrator. I'm already interested, but the character I really want to find out more about is Oliver, the stepson of Lady Stallbridge and the original Mrs Goode.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

98christina_reads
Jan 6, 2023, 9:34 am

>97 pamelad: I hate/love how some romance novels may not be that great, but the secondary characters are intriguing enough that they lure you into reading the sequel!

99pamelad
Jan 6, 2023, 3:50 pm

>98 christina_reads: I read that this book was available on NetGalley, so I joined up, but writing fair and balanced reviews is a bit of a trial.

100LadyoftheLodge
Editado: Jan 7, 2023, 12:38 pm

>97 pamelad: Found and acquired the ARC on NetGalley! Thanks for the review.

I have found that sometimes publishers like shorter reviews too. I once posted a review that I felt was incomplete and went back to change it, only to find that the publisher had already used it, even though it was so short. I also looked at some of the reviews posted by other reviewers and found that some are very short, maybe a sentence or two, but I do not think those are fair and honest reviews.

101pamelad
Jan 7, 2023, 3:24 pm

>100 LadyoftheLodge: It isn't steamless. I left a few criticisms out of my review because I didn't want to be negative!

102mathgirl40
Jan 7, 2023, 3:49 pm

Good luck with your 2023 reading! I'm hoping to read a few Georgette Heyers myself this year. I like both her romances and her mysteries.

103pamelad
Editado: Jan 11, 2023, 5:26 pm

>102 mathgirl40: You can't beat Georgette Heyer for historical romances.

The Runaway Viscount by Darcy Burke

The widowed Juliana Sheldon and the bachelor Lucas Trask, Viscount Audlington, spend a passionate night together in a snowbound inn, but she wakes the next morning to find that he has left. Two years later they meet again at a house party organised by the matchmaking Lord and Lady Cosford. Juliana has neither forgotten nor forgiven Lucas, so she sets out to torment him and make him jealous. Lucas regrets leaving Juliana the way he did and thinks of her often, so he is determined to renew their liaison. Marriage does not seem a possibility to either Lucas or Juliana but, as well as the enormous lust they feel for one another, they enjoy each other's company.

This short book is written in bland, simple language using a narrow vocabulary. There's a lot of sex, not a lot of plot, and not much tension.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

104pamelad
Editado: Jan 12, 2023, 5:14 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Every Rogue Has His Charm by Susanna Craig

Maximilien Grant, Lord Chesleigh is heir to a duke, his grandfather, who is a truly vicious old man. Maximilien is so very damaged that when he begins to fall in love with Caro, the woman he married to save from ruin, he abandons her for her own good and resumes his job as a spy. On the death of the old duke Maxim returns to England. He plans to drop in on his wife just to check she's OK, but circumstances result in him staying a good deal longer.

I enjoyed this one. Spies, treachery, attempted murder, a wicked father. There's a truly nauseating epilogue, but that's par for the course. I liked Caro and Maxim, and I'm always pleased when a damaged duke finds the one woman who can fix him. There's another romance going on as well between the spies who are watching Maxim, a sub-romance between the sub-spies.

This was the only Susanna Craig book I hadn't read. I preferred it to The Lady Knows Best.

105christina_reads
Jan 12, 2023, 10:56 am

>104 pamelad: Ooh, that one does sound fun! I am enjoying the Love and Let Spy series...nothing groundbreaking, but reasonably enjoyable. Next up for me is Better Off Wed.

106pamelad
Jan 12, 2023, 2:52 pm

>105 christina_reads: And they're literate! I often give up on romances because of grammatical errors on page 1. I liked Better Off Wed.

107pamelad
Jan 15, 2023, 12:19 am

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

Four Christmas Kisses: A Scandal in Mayfair by Anna Campbell
Her Christmas Earl by Anna Campbell (Novella)

I like Anna Campbell because her writing is lively and cheerful, and she's Australian. The first book is quite short. Anthea Bryars finds a very attractive unconscious man in the snow, on the point of freezing to death. She manages to get him back to the manor house she shares with her three younger step-sisters and her governess. They're about to lose their home because it has been inherited by Wicked Cousin Christopher, whose solicitor has notified them that they must leave. When the patient, the anonymous cousin, wakes up, he hears the girls talking about him, so he decides to pretend amnesia for a while.

A pleasant, predictable little story.

The second book won prizes. Philippa Sanders is inadvertently locked in a dressing room with a wickedly attractive rake, Lord Erskine. He's not a bad man at heart, so when they're discovered he offers to marry her. Another pleasant, predictable little story.

10. Everything Else

A Grosvenor Square Christmas by Shana Galen and three others.

Four short stories, linked by the annual Christmas party held by the matchmaking widow, the Dowager Countess of Winterson. This is a Kindle freebie.

108LadyoftheLodge
Jan 16, 2023, 5:10 pm

>107 pamelad: Thanks for the tip! I found A Grosvenor Square Christmas and downloaded it.

109pamelad
Jan 17, 2023, 1:32 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Heartless by Mary Balogh

Lucas Kendrick duelled with his brother, who had seduced and married Lucas's betrothed. Lucas shot his brother by mistake and his father threw him out without a penny. Now, ten years later, after Lucas has made a fortune in Paris, his father and brother are dead and he is the Duke of Harndon. Family problems and his responsibilities to the dukedom have brought Lucas back to England where, unwilling to face his ex-fiancee on his own, he marries Lady Anna Marlowe who is almost on the shelf because she has been looking after her younger brother and sisters. Lucas tells Anna he has no heart and acts as though he doesn't. Anna has a terrible secret involving a man who is obsessed with her.

I enjoyed this despite the ludicrous plot.

Silent Melody by Mary Balogh

The sequel to Heartless. Ashley, brother of Luke, loved Anna's deaf-mute sister, Emily, in a brotherly way. She was only only fifteen. So, when Emily kisses him goodbye on his departure for India, he is taken aback by his feelings for her and feels so uneasy that he puts her out of his mind for the whole seven years he is away. He marries and has a child, but a tragedy befalls them, and he returns to England alone, a sad and damaged man. Ashley and Emily behave quite oddly for the sake of the plot.

As does Heartless, the plot of Silent Melody turns on a wicked wife and an obsessed stalker, but I enjoyed it too, though both books were a little too dark and melodramatic for my taste. They're Georgian, not Regency, and there are lots of descriptions of clothes.

110dreamweaver529
Jan 17, 2023, 12:21 pm

>109 pamelad: Oh no - a romance novel with a ludicrous plot!?! (slips book onto TBR list)

111pamelad
Jan 17, 2023, 3:34 pm

>110 dreamweaver529: So far, my favourite piece of ludicrousness is in one of Jo Beverley's books, where the hero and heroine are trapped in a cellar and going for it in a coffin. He's her brother-in-law but doesn't recognise her because she's wearing a mask. I think it's Something Wicked.

112christina_reads
Jan 17, 2023, 3:36 pm

>111 pamelad: Haha, thanks for that laugh! I needed it today. And I have so many questions...

113pamelad
Jan 17, 2023, 3:44 pm

>112 christina_reads: It's even better. In the cellar with them is the stolen Stone of Scone, an oblong block of red sandstone that has been used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, which is about to be shipped to France.

114christina_reads
Jan 17, 2023, 3:57 pm

>113 pamelad: I mean, it makes at least as much sense as the coffin.

115LadyoftheLodge
Jan 17, 2023, 4:02 pm

>112 christina_reads: Ditto that! I could imagine the movie in my mind . . .

116pamelad
Jan 17, 2023, 4:11 pm

10. Everything Else

Web of Love by Mary Balogh

Ellen Simpson loves her much older husband, but after he dies at Waterloo, she falls in love with his friend, Lord Dominic Eden, whom she has nursed back to health. Appalled by what she sees as her disloyalty to her husband, Ellen sends him away. There's a sub-plot involving Dominic's sister, Madeline, who also falls in love with a soldier she's nursed. Madeline is very irritating, unlike Ellen who is almost perfect.

I enjoyed this and was relieved that there were no evil people in it.

Must change some categories. Fabulous Finds is empty and there might not be many more candidates for Good for a Laugh. Thinking of a Second Chance category for widows, widowers, lovers who were separated years ago and have found each other again.

117pamelad
Jan 18, 2023, 4:22 pm

>115 LadyoftheLodge: It's part of the Mallorens series, so a TV miniseries could be a very good thing. Much more drama than Bridgerton!

I much preferred the first series of Bridgerton to the second, and don't hold out much hope for the third. The book was a bit dull, and Colin didn't impress me much. But I'm hoping to be proved wrong.

118pamelad
Editado: Jan 20, 2023, 5:25 pm

3. Must We?

Under the Wishing Star by Diane Farr

This isn't quite a marriage of convenience because the hero, Malcolm Chase, and heroine, Natalie Whittaker, are in love with one another but due to misunderstandings (yawn) are unwilling to declare themselves. They meet when Natalie befriends Malcolm's daughter, and their friendship grows as Natalie takes on the position of unofficial governess. Natalie lives with her horrible half-brother and his ghastly wife, so she is in dire need of something useful to do that will get her out of the house.

This was a pleasant little romance, a bit too tidy and sentimental for my taste.

119pamelad
Editado: Jan 28, 2023, 5:19 pm

4. Steamless

The Ladies in Love Series by Marion Chesney aka M C Beaton

I've read Ginny and am now reading Tilly. There are seven books in this series, which was a Kobo cheapie. I've skipped the first one, Polly, because it seemed a bit too modern. They seem to be set in the 1910s. Like most of the Marion Chesney romances I've read, these are bland and simple, but I wanted something undemanding that wouldn't keep me awake, and these fit the bill.

120pamelad
Editado: Fev 5, 2023, 4:22 pm

3. Must We?

Ruined by Rumor by Alyssa Everett

It's always worth trying a new author and I was suffering from historical romance withdrawal, so after reading christina_reads' review I gave Alyssa Everett a try. The beautiful Roxana has been betrothed to George, a soldier, for five years, but soon after their betrothal ball he jilts her. She's inappropriately consoled by her old, boring friend Alex Ayersley, who has loved her forever and offers marriage. Misunderstandings derail their romance.

I quite liked this, but the protagonists don't really behave like Regency English people, and I'm never keen on the "misunderstandings keep us apart" plot device. I'd read more of Alyssa Everett's books if I could find free copies.

121christina_reads
Fev 6, 2023, 10:06 am

>120 pamelad: I'm glad you liked this one despite the caveats...and I'm with you in hoping that some of Everett's other books will show up as free e-book deals!

122pamelad
Fev 6, 2023, 7:46 pm

10. Everything Else

Reckless Griselda by Harriet Smart

I enjoyed Smart's Northminster Mysteries, so decided to try a romance. Griselda has run away from her father's home in Scotland and is travelling on foot, dressed as a boy, to her brother, an army major who is convalescing in a small seaside town. On the way Griselda meets Tom, and they spend an afternoon together in the bedroom of an inn. Griselda runs away while Tom sleeps and they don't expect ever to meet again, despite their deep and instant attraction, but of course they do. Tom is genuinely betrothed to one young woman, while his mother is determined that he marry the daughter of her lover, so Griselda is his third entanglement.

I quite liked the book, but it's all very unlikely. It's available on KindleUnlimited.

123LadyoftheLodge
Fev 7, 2023, 3:03 pm

>122 pamelad: Do you have Kindle Unlimited? I have been tempted to try it, but wondered if it is worth it.

124pamelad
Fev 7, 2023, 4:27 pm

>123 LadyoftheLodge: Sometimes there are special offers for KindleUnlimited, which are worth a try. I join for a month here and there when I see a few books on Kindle Unlimited that I want to read. I've just read a lot of books by Harriet Smart, for example. Books come and go, so if you see a pile of books by a favourite author, it's a good idea to hop in straight away.

You might like D E Stevenson, some classic crime by Anthony Berkeley and E C R Lorac, vintage historical romances by Clare Darcy, mysteries by Shelley Smith.

125pamelad
Editado: Fev 7, 2023, 6:04 pm

3. Must We?

A Tempting Proposal by Harriet Smart

Will Urqhuart and Adela Ross first meet at Macreadie's Supper and Song room, where Will helps Adela escape a crowd of leering drunks. Will needs to marry within a month in order to secure an inheritance (this only ever happens in Historical Romance Land) so when he meets Adela again he proposes. She accepts because she's desperate to support herself and her sisters. She and Will plan to marry, then separate for good, but circumstances throw them together for weeks. Will denies his growing fondness for Adela because he is determined never to fall in love again.

I liked this one. It's set in the early days of Victoria's reign.

10. Everything Else

The True Value of Pearls by Harriet Smart

This one is set in the aftermath of WWII. I read it because it's in a box set, Harriet Smart: The Romances. I don't usually read WWII books that weren't written at the time, or by people who lived through it, so even though this was an engaging enough romantic suspense, it didn't really appeal. To me there's something exploitative about setting a romance during WWII. It's too recent and too terrible to be trivialised.

126pamelad
Editado: Fev 9, 2023, 7:28 pm

10. Everything Else

The Heiress Bride by Madeline Hunter

Nicholas Radnor became the Duke of Hollingburgh when his uncle died unexpectedly. Nicholas inherited the entailed properties, but not his uncle's personal fortune, so he is resigned to marrying a suitable debutante with an enormous dowry. His uncle left his fortune to three young women who are unknown to his family. Two were introduced in the first two books in this series, A Duke's Heiress, but investigators had failed to find the third woman, Iris Barrington, until she turned up unexpectedly at the duke's home demanding that he fulfil a promise made to her by the previous duke. She is a book dealer and is looking for a valuable book that her grandfather was accused of stealing.

There are three mysteries: the mystery of the missing book; the family secret for which Nicholas's father fought a duel and died; the suspicious death of the previous duke. There's also the romance between the Iris and the duke, which seems doomed because Iris is neither rich enough nor aristocratic enough to become a duchess. All the threads eventually link up tidily. There's plenty of mystery and romance, a couple of potential villains, and many appealing characters, including the heroes and heroines of the first two novels in the series. You don't have to read the first two to enjoy this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

127LadyoftheLodge
Fev 9, 2023, 8:14 pm

>124 pamelad: You named some of my fave authors! When we moved and weeded our books, I kept all my D.E. Stevenson paperbacks and my Clare Darcy books (all of which I read many moons ago). I recently picked up a few Lorac books on Kindle (did you notice her name is Carol spelled backwards?) but Shelley Smith is new to me as is Anthony Berkeley.

128pamelad
Editado: Fev 10, 2023, 5:20 pm

>127 LadyoftheLodge: There could be some books that are available in the US but not in Australia and vice versa. E C R Lorac has popped up on a few threads recently, which makes me wonder whether she's a new addition to the US site. Her books have been available on the Australian site for years. Have they been recently re-edited for American audiences, or is the British terminology and spelling still intact?

I'm currently reading The Countess Invention by Judith Lynne, an author I haven't read before. It's going very well, and is a Kindle freebie.

129LadyoftheLodge
Fev 10, 2023, 6:50 pm

>128 pamelad: Lorac's books are new to me but have popped up on Amazon Kindle for decent prices. Post After Post-Mortem was just released under the British Library of Crime Classics series, which is how I obtained it. I will have to check about the British spellings and terms as I did not pay attention to that (I guess I am familiar enough with the Brit spellings and terms that I did not notice!) I just downloaded Murder in Vienna today.

130pamelad
Fev 10, 2023, 10:07 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Countess Invention by Judith Lynne

The hero is a retired army surgeon with PTSD and an awful family. He drinks himself into oblivion every night and has slept with half the women in the ton. The heroine is hard of hearing, not quite deaf, and supports her household of damaged servants by designing aids for amputees and other injured people. She has been corresponding with the hero who thinks she's a man. Her father wants her to marry an earl and has delivered an ultimatum. She wants to find a husband who'll leave her alone to carry on her business and won't want to sleep with her because she tried that and didn't like it.

I liked this, although it's too long and parts of the plot are more ridiculous than usual. I'll probably read another in the series, which is available on KoboPlus. This book, the second in the series, is a Kindle freebie. The third book is less than $A2, so I might read it, but the heroine is a blind servant who is courted by a duke, which is not promising.

131pamelad
Editado: Fev 11, 2023, 8:00 pm

4. Steamless

Marguerite and the Duke in Disguise by Alicia Cameron

This is the last book in the Sisters of Castle Fortune series. There are ten sisters, all at risk of being sold off in marriage to the highest bidder by their greedy, thoughtless father, a baron, who is abetted by their nasty brother George. Marguerite, the identical twin sister of Leonora who married in the previous volume, has been deposited at the house of strangers because her father wants to save the cost of another London season and marry her off to Mr. Dysart, younger brother and heir of Sir Peregrine, a baronet. Mr. Dysart's first wife is dead, and his brother is dying. The compassionate, affectionate Marguerite secretly befriends Sir Peregrine, whose controlling wife has isolated him from friends and family. Something is very wrong on the Dysart estate and Marguerite is at risk.

In a house on the edge of the Dysart estate is the mysterious Mr Fairfax, who has rented the place for a shooting holiday. Margeurite came across Fairfax under another name when he saved her from a molester at an inn, where her father and brother had failed to protect her.

This is a fairly frothy romance due to the Marguerite's cheerful silliness and another thread involving a family friend, Sir Justin Faulkes, and a princess. Although Marguerite gets a bit wearing, I enjoyed the book. It's written in British English which is a very big plus for a book set in England.

The whole series is available on KindleUnlimited.

132pamelad
Editado: Fev 12, 2023, 4:38 pm

4. Steamless

Beth and the Mistaken Identity by Alicia Cameron

Beth is a lady's maid, unfairly turned off without a character. At an inn a Marquis and his sister, a princess, mistake Beth for a young lady who is running away from school. In the end, Beth plays along because she is desperate.

I was in two minds about reading this because of the maid and marquis fall in love theme, and should have listened to myself, but at least I can use it for a Bingo square.

133pamelad
Fev 16, 2023, 11:03 pm

Must We?

Heiress in Red Silk by Madeline Hunter

The second book in the Dukes' Heiresses series. The third is in >126 pamelad:.

The heroine, Rosamund Jameson, is a milliner and the hero, Kevin Radnor, a man who is single-minded in his interests and far too direct for society. Rosamund has been left a half-share in Kevin's company, to his disgust, but the beautiful Rosamund is pragmatic and business-like so could be an asset if Kevin would let her.

Light and entertaining. I liked it. The series improves as it goes.

134pamelad
Fev 19, 2023, 12:50 am

Series: The Rarest Blooms by Madeline Hunter

Ravishing in Red 3. Must We?
Provocative in Pearls 3. Must We?
Sinful in Satin 10. Everything Else
Dangerous in Diamonds 8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

Daphne Joyes is a woman with a secret, and the other women in her house have secrets too. Together the four of them run a business, Rare Blooms. They grow and sell flowers and other plants and do floral decorations for occasions like weddings and balls. Their house and garden is in Middlesex, not far from London.

The heroines are the women from Rare Blooms, and the heroes are all friends from school and university. Only one of them is a duke. There's an awful lot of sex, but I skipped most of it. The women are beautiful and the men are impossibly handsome. The writing is lively and grammatical: too many likes and gottens, but none of that heavy-handed ironical use of contemporary American cliches.

I can recommend Madeline Hunter for a pleasant Regency escape.

135pamelad
Editado: Fev 19, 2023, 1:11 am

3. Must We?

Secrets and a Scandal by Jane Maguire

This one is on KindleUnlimited, by an author I haven't read before. There's a sad earl who escaped to France after the death of his wife and returned to England when his father was dying, a bankrupt estate, a rich heiress with a horrible father, a marriage of convenience.

A bit dull, but readable.

136pamelad
Fev 20, 2023, 6:22 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls
The Most Dangerous Duke in London by Madeline Hunter

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands
A Devil of a Duke by Madeline Hunter

3. Must We?
Never Deny a Duke by Madeline Hunter

Three devilishly handsome dukes (is there any other kind?) have been friends since their school days.

The dangerous duke has killed two men in duels because they have insulted his family. His father, who committed suicide, was accused of treachery and a neighbouring earl, now dead, was the main accuser. There has been a feud between the duke's family and the earl's for generations and in order to settle it, the duke is offered the earl's younger daughter in marriage. He's far more attracted to the unsuitable older daughter, who secretly publishes a women's journal.

The devilish duke is a notorious Lothario. He meets a mysterious, fascinating woman at a masquerade. She has a plan he is not aware of and that would horrify him if he were, but she needs help, and he can't keep away.

The third duke presents a reserved and proper facade to society. He owns a Scottish castle, the site of a secret tragedy that has blighted his life. After Culloden, the king confiscated Scottish estates and gave them to Englishmen, but now, a few decades later, some estates are being returned to their original owners. The heroine has a claim on the duke's Scottish estate, which the duke is determined to keep.

All three heroines are linked by their participation in the writing and publication of the women's journal.

I liked these. I'd prefer the heroes weren't dukes, but they so often are. The characters are appealing, the happy ending is never in doubt, there's a bit of humour and enough going on to hold the attention, and they're available on Overdrive. The middle book is my least favourite because the plot is more than usually farcical and the heroine spectacularly unsuitable to be a duke's wife.

137pamelad
Editado: Fev 21, 2023, 4:33 pm

I'm still on the Madeline Hunter binge and have started yet another series, the Wicked Trilogy.

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

His Wicked Reputation

Gareth Fitzallen is the bastard son of a duke. When the old duke died, the vicious, evil Percy succeeded to the dukedom. Percy has just died, possibly murdered, so now that they can, his two other half-brothers, Lance the new duke and Ives a lawyer, have accepted him into the family. Ives has recruited Gareth to investigate the loss of a cache of paintings. Five years ago, a group of nobles, fearing revolution, had sent their art works out of London for safe-keeping, and now they are lost. In the course of his investigation, Gareth, a notoriously charming man who is pursued by many women, meets Eva, who has resigned herself to spinsterhood.

I enjoyed this and have started the third book. The second was out on loan. Curses!

A small problem with American terminology. Madeline Hunter makes a real effort to write neutral English, so uses far fewer Americanisms than most US Regency romance writers, but I was waylaid by "teamsters". I've had to look this word up before, so am aware of the Teamsters Union and Jimmy Hoffa, and that a teamster is some variety of truck driver. There were no teamsters in Regency England. Not sure what to call the men who transported goods by horse and cart. Perhaps carters? Definitely not teamsters.

138NinieB
Fev 21, 2023, 5:48 pm

>137 pamelad: Teamster is usually used in the USA just in the union context. But it does have old timey connotations since it would be a team of horses or oxen, so perhaps that's why Hunter used it?

139pamelad
Fev 21, 2023, 6:16 pm

>138 NinieB: Perhaps, but only in America. She must have been stuck for a word.

140pamelad
Editado: Fev 22, 2023, 3:11 am

3. Must We?

The Wicked Duke by Madeline Hunter

Lance the Duke has been accused of the murder of his evil brother, Percy, and a fellow peer with a grudge is pushing for a trial. For unlikely reasons, Lance marries the niece of the local magistrate.

I enjoyed this one too and since the middle book in the Wicked trilogy is still out on loan, I started The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne, the first book in the Fairbourne Quartet. I gave up on it.

141pamelad
Fev 22, 2023, 2:22 pm

Gave up on another book, The Saint by Madeline Hunter. It's the second in The Seducers series and I started with it because it has a higher LT rating than the first book. It could be the American heroine that raises the rating. I've made a study! Romances tagged Christian also get high ratings, not that Hunter's books could ever fit that classification.

The Madeline Hunter books don't take long to read because there are plenty of sex scenes to skip or skim through. In the two I abandoned, the hero begins lusting over the heroine early in chapter one, which is tedious. Also, in The Saint everyone spoke American, including the narrator. It's one of her early books, so she must have improved with practice.

142pamelad
Editado: Fev 23, 2023, 4:58 am

10. Everything Else

Tall, Dark and Wicked by Madeline Hunter

The middle book of the Wicked Trilogy. The middle brother, Ives, is a lawyer and a friend of the king. King George used to be the Regent, so we're post-Regency, but in historical romances the Regency extends much further than it did at the time. It's a bit like middle age. The heroine, Padua, is a tall mathematician. Her father is in Newgate Prison for a crime he didn't commit, so she tries to hire Ives. A quick read because they spent whole chapters in bed.

143pamelad
Fev 27, 2023, 8:35 pm

Seducing a Stranger by Kerrigan Byrne was a Kindle freebie. It's an historical romance, set in Victorian London and rated 4.15 stars on LT. I'm up to chapter 2, in which I have managed to stagger past "humungous" only to be accosted by this sentence:

He'd broken up a domestic brawl that'd spilled out onto the streets, and gave a boy on the cusp of manhood a pence to sleep beneath a different roof than his ham-fisted father.

This reads as though the brawl gave the boy a pence (this should be a penny - pence are decimal) and that the boy's father is a roof.

144RidgewayGirl
Fev 27, 2023, 8:46 pm

>137 pamelad: Regarding the word "teamster" -- it was first used back in 1758 and refers to someone who drives a team. So a different definition than the American one, but not a new term.

145pamelad
Editado: Fev 27, 2023, 9:48 pm

>144 RidgewayGirl: You automatically think of the Teamster's Union, so you're transported from Regency England to modern America. I've come across "team" in that context in British books, but never "teamster". Perhaps it wasn't often used. Then again, I'm currently reading Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot and it's full of words I've never come across.

This list of occupations from the 1921 census has teamsters. Now I need to find one from the early 1800s.

146pamelad
Editado: Fev 28, 2023, 2:54 am

Abandoned Seducing a Stranger for Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas. It was first published in 2003 so fits a Bingo square. I'm happy with the grammar.

147pamelad
Fev 28, 2023, 3:50 pm

2. What Price for This Heroine?

Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas

Charlotte's parents have virtually sold her to a mad, depraved earl, but she escapes before the wedding and finds a job under a false name as a companion to an old lady. The earl pays Nick Gentry, a Bow Street runner who was once a criminal at risk of being hanged, to find Charlotte but Nick, who until quite recently has shown no evidence of compassion, decides to save her from the earl by marrying her himself. Can Nick and Charlotte overcome their terrible histories and learn to love one another?

Not much plot here, apart from the threat of the depraved earl, but it was competently and grammatically written, so I enjoyed it.

It's the third book in The Bow Street Runners series, but the first I've read. It was first published in 2003, and I chose it for a BingoDOG square.

148pamelad
Mar 1, 2023, 3:57 pm

10. Everything Else

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Aline the earl's daughter and McKenna the orphaned stable boy have been friends since childhood and have fallen in love. When the earl finds out, he threatens Aline that he will destroy McKenna, so in order to convince him to go away, she tells him that she could never love a servant. Years later, having made his fortune, McKenna returns to take revenge on Aline. Meanwhile, Aline's scandalous sister, Olivia, who has withdrawn from society, falls in love with a rich American alcoholic.

This was a bit boring, but there are over 1000 copies on LT, so it fills a Bingo square.

149pamelad
Mar 3, 2023, 5:22 am

10. Everything Else

Once a Duchess by Elizabeth Boyce

A duke's wicked mother manipulates him into divorcing his young wife who, cut off by her brother, works as a cook in an inn to support herself. All very unlikely, but not in an interesting way. No historical detail. No humour.

The language makes this more suited to an American readership.

150pamelad
Mar 8, 2023, 4:16 pm

10. Everything Else

I've abandoned quite a few historical romances lately, most for ungrammatical writing but some for sameyness, that "I've read this before, only better" feeling, so I returned to an old stand-by, Mary Balogh, and read Lord Carew's Bride. The two main characters deserved a happy ending and got one. The villain was punished by a humiliating public beating at the hands and feet of the disabled Lord Carew, which I could have done without. This is an early Mary Balogh so it's nice and short.

151pamelad
Mar 8, 2023, 4:34 pm

Thinking of replacements for some empty categories. Fabulous Finds is empty, so I'll change it to fit authors I hadn't read before whom I'd like to read again. The hybrid mystery/romances are in my other thread, so that category could go. 10. Everything Else is filling up, so there must be some missing categories. Possibilities are:
Second Chance Romance for couples who once loved but were separated; for heroines whose lives have been derailed by scandal, or who had unhappy first marriages.....

152pamelad
Editado: Mar 9, 2023, 10:23 pm

10. Everything Else

Untie My Heart by Judith Ivory started well with two tough-minded characters who didn't take themselves too seriously. Stuart is a viscount who has spent most of his adult life in Eastern Europe avoiding his evil father. On the death of the old viscount Stuart's uncle, Leo, had tried to have his nephew declared dead and had managed to clear the estate of valuables and spend a lot of money, so now Stuart is in a temporary financial and legal mess. When his carriage runs over Emma Hotchkiss's lamb, he doesn't have the spare cash to pay compensation and tries to intimidate her, but Emma used to be a con-woman so she takes him on. Unfortunately, or not, depending on what you're looking for in an historical romance, there's a lot of semi-consensual sexual activity, which starts with the heroine tied to a chair, and a lot of chit-chat about Stuart's sexual interests.

So, I liked the characters and the humour, and was entertained by the plot about swindling Stuart's uncle but disliked the "I know you want to" aspects. Also, despite being in Victorian England, the characters speak and act like 21st century Americans.

I've just bought two vintage romances that I expect to be steamless. They keep popping up on my LT recommendations: The Cockermouth Mail and Lady Bliss.

153pamelad
Editado: Mar 11, 2023, 2:19 am

4. Steamless

The Cockermouth Mail by Dinah Dean was first published in 1982 and is now available as an ebook.

Dorcas is on her way to a governess position in the north of England when the mail coach veers over the edge of the road and is too damaged to continue. She and her four fellow passengers make their way, with great difficulty, to an inn where they are snowed in for five days with two other guests. The mail passengers clients are a soldier who has been invalided out of the army, his servant, a solicitor, and a mysterious man from London. Already at the inn are an unpleasant man who says he is a Bow Street Runner, and a rich young man who is quite full of himself. Dinah and the soldier, Richard, are very much attracted to one another but she thinks she's too poor for anyone to want to marry her, and he thinks no woman would want him because of his damaged leg.

A nice, predictable, cosy little romance with a bit of humour. I liked it.

I am now reading Lady Bliss, first published in 1979.

154pamelad
Editado: Mar 12, 2023, 5:54 pm

3. Must We?

Abandoned Lady Bliss and read Duel of Hearts by Anita Mills. The unappealing hero and heroine both throw temper tantrums, so it seems that they are well matched. I wouldn't want to know them. Semi-steamless - much more lustful than Georgette Heyer, but we're spared the details.

First published in 1988.

I'm now reading a Kindle freebie, Chills by Heather Boyd, because the author is Australian.

Recommending The Literature Map. You put in an author's name and the map supplies suggestions for similar authors. The more similarities, the closer the names on the map.

ETA Works best for popular authors. I just put in Sheila Simonson, who wrote Lady Elizabeth's Comet and received only two seemingly irrelevant results: Bill Bryson and Fannie Flagg. Tried again with Loretta Chase who threw up, among others, Connie Brockway. I've borrowed As You desire which, from the blurb, looks to be as exuberantly and enjoyably ludicrous as Loretta Chase's Egyptian novels.

155pamelad
Mar 12, 2023, 10:25 pm

Abandoned Chills half-way through because I'm not interested enough to continue, and As You Desire because although it's set in Egypt and hero has just saved the heroine who was abducted by tribesmen, it's dull! Lots of talking and none of the humour I was looking for. I'm in the mood for a cheerful, frothy romance, so will keep looking. Shame about Connie Brockway because there are lots of her books on Overdrive. Perhaps there's a better one.

Heather Boyd's book seems to have been translated into American English, which defeats the purpose of reading an Australian writer. Wrapped around her pinky finger? Odd.

156pamelad
Mar 13, 2023, 5:44 pm

Two novellas: The Wolf of Westmore by Amalie Howard and Seduced by a Pirate by Eloisa James. Both of them were too steamy for my taste, particularly The Wolf of Westmore. I think the perfect length for an historical romance is around 250 pages, give or take 50 or so. Novellas are too short, especially those with lots of sex scenes because if you take those out there's hardly anything left. Many romances are too long, over 400 pages with long, boring misunderstandings in the middle.

Looking for light, frothy, witty, short books with minimal steam.

157pamelad
Mar 17, 2023, 11:57 pm

3. Must We? Marriages of convenience.

Wedded Bliss by Barbara Metzger

A cold-hearted earl is devoted to his voluntary job of diplomat and translator and relies on his sister and his employees to manage his estates and look after his young son. He rarely reads the reports from his estates, so when he realises that his sister has eloped and the nanny and nursemaid have left he races home to remedy his neglect, only to find that his son is living with a woman the earl has never met.

The earl proposes marriage and the woman accepts because all her other options are worse. She needs protection from local lechers and money to support her sons. The marriage begins badly because the earl is an idiot.

This was OK. The writing is lively, and the story is cheerful, though I found to be too heavy-handedly heartwarming. It's full of small boys.

158pamelad
Editado: Mar 18, 2023, 7:22 pm

5. Fabulous Finds was empty, so I've replaced it with 5. Second Chance Romance which is for people who were cruelly separated from the loves of their lives and forcibly married to others; people whose marriages were terrible and have decided never to marry again; young women whose lives were ruined by scandal.......

5. Second Chance Romance

The Stanforth Secrets by Jo Beverley

The secrets are bizarre! A British spy in France sends his communications to the War Office in wax fruit. He has chopped up a message into tiny pieces and hidden them in wax cherries, but a cherry fell from the hat where it was hidden in plain sight, and part of a message has been lost. The lost bit contains part of a list of French spies operating in England and is now rumoured to have been hidden in a wax apple and delivered to Stephen, Earl of Stanforth. But Stephen had just died in a carriage accident and been succeeded by his idiot Uncle George, so the message had been lost. Julian, cousin of Stephen, is now the Earl and has been given the job of finding the message. Stephen's widow, Chloe, is Julian's long lost love and she is his, but both were too honorable to admit their love, even to themselves, while Stephen was alive.

>111 pamelad: This plot rivals the masked in-laws in a coffin for ludicrousness. The message turns out to be in a wax potato, not an apple, due to a confusion between pomme and pomme de terre. Who has ever come across a wax potato? It was hidden in a jar of pot pourri. I quite like deliberately ludicrous plots - it's the inadvertently ludicrous ones I don't like, the badly researched books full of anachronisms and mistakes.

I enjoyed this. It was silly, well-written and not too steamy.

159pamelad
Mar 19, 2023, 5:50 pm

10. Everything Else

The Spring Bride by Anne Gracie

Jane and Abby are sisters left destitute on the deaths of their parents who had been disowned by their families when they eloped, so Jane is determined on a sensible marriage. She'll choose a wealthy man who can provide security for their children. She doesn't count on falling in love with the unsuitable Zachary, who appears to be a gypsy but is actually an earl who is charged with a murder he didn't commit.

This is the third book in the Chance Sisters series. The sisters are Abby and Jane, who really are sisters; Damaris, who escaped with Jane from a brothel; and Daisy, a servant in the brothel who helped the girls to escape. The four young women are living with Lady Beatrice, whom they saved from unscrupulous servants who had been keeping her prisoner and stealing from her.

A pleasant read, not too steamy. The author is Australian.

160pamelad
Mar 22, 2023, 5:46 pm

5. Second Chance Romance

Decimus and the Wary Widow by Emily Larkin

Decimus Pryor is a rake who specialises in young widows. The beautiful Eloise, Dowager Viscountess Fortrose, known to the ton as "The Fortress" has never shown any interest in Decimus, but that changes when Decimus single-handedly fights off three men who attack Eloise's carriage. This is a Baleful Godmother novel, so Decimus has a magical skill: levitation. I'm not big fantasy fan, but the magic doesn't intrude too much.

Eloise was married off at fifteen to an old man who controlled every aspect of her life, so she doesn't want to marry again, and Decimus doesn't plan to marry for years yet, so when they fall in love neither admits it.

This was a nice, warm. cosy little romance. Decimus is lovely.

Emily Larkin is a New Zealand writer. Her books are available on Kobo Plus.

10. Everything Else

Claiming Mister Kemp by Emily Larkin

This was the only one of Larkin's books I hadn't read, a romance between two men, Tom and Lucas, who have been friends since Eton. They've never admitted their attraction for one another, but Tom, a soldier, barely escaped death in battle so he's determined to declare himself to Lucas. In Regency England, sodomy is a hanging offence, so a relationship between two men entails enormous risk.

I had great sympathy for Tom and Lucas, but doubt that I'll read another M to M romance. Maximum voyeur factor.

161pamelad
Editado: Mar 24, 2023, 4:53 pm

I've replaced the hybrid category (historical mysteries with a bit of romance) with 9. All Steam, No Plot Another public service.

The first candidate is Hathaway Heirs, a collection of four novellas by Suzanna Medeiros. I read the first one, Lady Hathaway's Proposal, but didn't bother with the rest.

162pamelad
Editado: Mar 25, 2023, 4:41 pm

4. Steamless

The Stolen Bride by Jo Beverley

Nothing special, but pleasant. Family and friends are gathering for the marriage of Randal and Sophie. There are too many characters fro a short book, and everyone seems to be related to everyone else, so I gave up trying to follow and just concentrated on the main characters: Sophie and Randal; the wicked Piers Verderan; Beth the tiny governess and man-mountain Sir Marius (there's a romance between these two). On the way to the family castle of Randal's ducal brother Beth comes across Marius, whose carriage has lost a wheel? horse has thrown a shoe? (I forget) and gives him a lift. A few miles further on they come across a damaged carriage containing a damaged middle-aged lady, so they convey the woman to the castle. She's an important part of the plot. Sophie is getting anonymous letters telling her that her marriage will never go ahead, and Randal is receiving death threats.

The book is available in the Open Library. It was first published in 1990. I like Jo Beverley's writing style, so whenever I come across one of her books, I read it. There are a few exceptions: a couple of books with too much depravity and violence; some mediaeval romances; anything with magic.

Perhaps I'll have to expand into the Middle Ages. Better a well-written mediaeval romance than a badly-written Regency.

163christina_reads
Editado: Mar 27, 2023, 11:11 am

>159 pamelad: I just read The Spring Bride as well! I agree, a pleasant read, and I will definitely seek out more by Gracie.

>162 pamelad: I haven't read many medieval romances, but I remember quite liking Roselynde by Roberta Gellis. And Katherine by Anya Seton is a classic, though I'd call it historical fiction with strong romantic elements rather than a full-on romance.

164pamelad
Mar 28, 2023, 4:43 pm

>163 christina_reads: Katherine is definitely on my list. It would be a good choice for the remaining two slots in the Historical Fiction Challenge: a real historical figure; over 500 pages. Thank you for the reminder.

Anne Gracie's books are a good standby, but I think they're missing something. The writing is a little dull, not enough verve and wit.

165pamelad
Mar 28, 2023, 10:24 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Seize the Fire by Laura Kinsale

Captain Sheridan Drake isn't a nobleman, but he's definitely damaged. Since being tricked into going to sea at ten years old, he's been trying to survive and is loyal to no one except the men under his command. When Her Serene Highness Olympia of Oriens, a tiny little country on the verge of revolution, tries to persuade him to help her get to Oriens via Rome, Sherry doesn't think twice before betraying her, but the naive Olympia persists in believing that he is a hero. Olivia and Sherry find themselves in peril many times, separated, then unexpectedly reunited, growing close, then apart. There are shipwrecks, kidnappings, a secret society of murderous Brahmins, mutinous convicts, violent mobs.

As we get to know Sherry we see the effects on him of the unnecessary battles he had to fight, the deaths of his comrades and the brutal actions he took for survival and revenge. There's a message from the author at the end.The book is dedicated to the combat veterans of Vietnam with respect and love and hope for healing.

This wasn't what I was looking for, but it certainly held my attention.

166pamelad
Mar 30, 2023, 4:58 am

10. Everything Else

The Summer Bride by Anne Gracie is the fourth book in the Chance Sisters series. Daisy, the heroine, is the maid who helped two Chance sisters escape from a brothel. She falls in love with Flynn, an Irishman who was also brought up in poverty but is now a successful businessman. He thought he wanted an aristocratic bride but realises he wants Daisy, but Daisy won't marry him because, amongst other reasons, she wants her own dressmaking business and, if she married, he'd own it.

This was a bit dull, a bit too tidy, a bit too saccharine. It's steamier than The Spring Bride, but as far as I'm concerned that's not really a good thing. It wasn't bad, just nothing special.

The Summer Bride is available in the Open Library and can be borrowed for a fortnight, which is much more convenient than hour by hour.

167pamelad
Editado: Abr 1, 2023, 5:42 pm

2. What Price for This Heroine?

An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley

I didn't read this one on my first Beverley binge because it starts with a rape, but it's on Kobo Plus and I like Beverley's writing. It's the first book in the Company of Rogues series and is a bit too sordid for my liking, but not as much as I thought it would be. Nicolas Delaney marries Eleanor Chivenham to get his twin brother, the earl, out of trouble, but he has a pre-existing obligation to continue as the lover of a French brothel madam who is part of a conspiracy to free Napoleon from Elba. Problematic for the marriage!

I put it in this category because it was Eleanor's evil brother who engineered the rape. It could also fit in the marriage of convenience category.

168pamelad
Abr 3, 2023, 5:00 pm

5. Second Chances

Beguiling the Beauty by Sherry Thomas

Venetia Townsend is astoundingly beautiful, and the young soon-to-be Duke of Lexington falls in love with her on sight, only to find out that she is married. She becomes a fixation, despite Lexington's encounter with Townsend, her husband, who maliciously slanders her. Disgusted with himself that he could be attracted by a woman's beauty, even though she is, as he believes, selfish, mercenary and cruel, at a scientific lecture in New York he denounces her without naming her. To punish him, Venetia decides to make him fall in love with her, so under a false name, she books a passage back to England on the same ship. She manages to prevent Lexington from seeing her face!

Beguiling the Beauty is very, very silly and not overly steamy. I really enjoyed it. I like Thomas's writing style and humour, and she reminds me a bit of Laura Kinsale, which is high praise.

Beguiling the Beauty is available in the Open Library as a 14-day loan. I'm now reading the second book in this Fitzhugh series, Ravishing the Heiress.

169christina_reads
Abr 3, 2023, 5:04 pm

>168 pamelad: I really want to try Sherry Thomas's romances! I have His at Night on my shelves, but this one sounds fun (albeit bananas) too.

170pamelad
Abr 4, 2023, 5:32 pm

>169 christina_reads: Now that I've read so many historical romances, I'm going back and increasing the ratings on some of them, including His at Night. I liked it, and Sherry Thomas is a better writer than some I've recently rated higher. When I first started I was rating romances relative to Georgette Heyer, but I've become more open-minded. The Luckiest Lady in London is another good one.

3. Must We?

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

The second book in the Fitzhugh series. George Fitzhugh, known as Fitz, has inherited a debt-encumbered earldom and must marry for money. At nineteen, he has to give up Isabelle, the woman he loves, to marry Milly, the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, who is only sixteen. Milly loves Fitz on sight, but his heart belongs to Isabelle. The sensible Milly makes an arrangement with Fitz that he can have his freedom for eight years, and only then will they consummate their marriage. Over the years Milly and Fitz become close, but they stick rigidly to their eight-year contract, which is silly but not in an amusing way, so I didn't like this book as much as Beguiling the Beauty. Even so, it's an entertaining read.

171christina_reads
Abr 5, 2023, 10:21 am

>170 pamelad: Makes sense that most historical romances are going to suffer by comparison to Georgette Heyer!

172pamelad
Abr 5, 2023, 7:59 pm

10. Everything Else

Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas

David Hillsborough, Viscount Hastings, has been in love with Helena Fitzhugh since they first met at 14, but she is unaware and actively dislikes him because he goes out of his way to insult her. Helena is in love with an old flame, who is married, and is carrying on an affair, at great risk to her family's reputation and her own. When Helena and her lover are on the point of being discovered, David steps in to save Helena's reputation.

I liked Tempting the Bride, which has lots of amusing repartee, but there are some drawbacks: Helena acts like an idiot and it's hard to accept that she would undergo such risks for a weak and vacillating old boyfriend who keeps letting her down; David writes erotic fiction, which features in the plot; David's illegitimate daughter, whose role is to show us what a wonderful person David truly is, with an utter lack of subtlety.

There's one more book in the series, The Bride of Larkspear, the erotic novel that David wrote to woo Helena. Not my cup of tea, so I'm stopping with Tempting the Bride.

173pamelad
Editado: Abr 6, 2023, 5:08 pm

4. Steamless

A Woman of Little Importance by Sheila Walsh

Charity's sister was married to a soldier, a duke's heir virtually disowned by his father. On the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law Charity is left to look after her niece and nephew and, since her nephew is now the heir, she takes him to see the duke, who is gratuitously cruel. She also meets the duke's youngest son, who is supercilious and dismissive.

Some characters undergo enormous personality changes, while others reveal their hidden psychopath, all for the sake of the plot. Mediocre.

ETA Walsh's A Highly Respectable Marriage won a RITA award and is worth a try. I liked it much more. It's available on Kindle Unlimited.

174pamelad
Abr 12, 2023, 5:12 am

4. Steamless

The Counterfeit Lady by Daisy Vivian

Susan Archer, a vicar's daughter, is companion to the elderly Lady Wycombe, the owner of an enormous and elaborate wardrobe which she bequeaths to Susan, along with an annuity. Susan, with her friend Tibby, Lady Wycombe's lady's maid, decide to try their luck at a spa resort where, with the aid of her new, magnificent clothing, Susan presents herself as an aristocratic widow.

A pleasant read. Some humour. No angst. It was first published in 1986 (before historical romances became overladen with sex, irony and bad grammar) and is available from the Open Library.

175pamelad
Abr 13, 2023, 7:23 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Well, I haven't really bothered because I've given up at 36% read. Too boring to continue. Also, why is there overstuffed furniture in Regency England? I know what that is now, because I've Googled it before and have been disappointed to find that an overstuffed chair isn't so hugely and undesirably inflated with padding that it's bursting but is merely an upholstered chair.

There's also a prequel, The Heir of Edenbrooke, which is very short.

176pamelad
Editado: Abr 14, 2023, 6:23 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, has just been left at the altar when Melisande Fleming, who for many years has loved him from a distance, offers to marry him. Since this is Jasper's second broken betrothal and he suspects that no woman wants to marry him, he agrees. Unfortunately he can't give his fiancee his full attention because he is searching for the man who betrayed him and his fellow soldiers to the French seven years ago when the English were fighting the French in Canada. Most of the soldiers were killed, and the rest were captured and tortured by Indians. (This sounds very suspect and racist to me in 2023. The book was written in 2008, which is surely too recent for this level of xenophobia?)

In my opinion, To Seduce a Sinner is remarkably tasteless. Hoyt wallows in the torture and its effects on the men left behind, and on top of that, there's a lot of sex and sentimentality. Hoyt's books get lots of recommendations, but I don't think they're for me.

I borrowed To Seduce a Sinner from the Open Library.

177christina_reads
Abr 14, 2023, 10:30 am

>175 pamelad: I liked Edenbrooke more than you, I think -- my review from several years ago said it was "pleasant" -- but I can't remember much about it now, so I'd say you're safe to DNF. :)

178pamelad
Abr 15, 2023, 8:02 pm

>177 christina_reads: When there is a lot of US terminology, the story has to be really good to make it worth persevering because I think, "This writer isn't trying."

In >176 pamelad: the hero looked at his Georgian clock and read the time as 8:32!

179pamelad
Editado: Abr 15, 2023, 8:34 pm

I've borrowed a Shana Galen Bundle from Overdrive, all three books from the Sons of the Revolution series: The Making of a Duchess, The Making of a Gentleman and The Rogue Pirate's Bride.

10. Everything Else

The Making of a Duchess

When the country estate of the Duc de Valere, soon to be guillotined, is attacked by peasants, Julien, the oldest son, escapes with his mother to England. He never stops looking for his twin brothers, Armand and Bastien, even though his mother believes they are dead. Julien's trips to France put him at risk of being executed as a traitor. Sir Northrup of the Foreign Office compels his children's governess, Sarah Smith, an orphan, to masquerade as a French aristocrat and move in with Julien and his mother in order to gather evidence of his treachery.

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Making of a Gentleman

Armand has been locked up in an attic for twelve years. Despite being fed only twice a week on bread and water, and being allowed out for exercise once a year, within a month of his rescue he's a tall, strong, handsome young man. I would expect him to be small, bent with rickets, and with no teeth due to scurvy, but it turns out that his only problems are that he has forgotten how to speak, or is unwilling to, and is unaware of society's rules. Julien and his wife hire a tutor, Felicity Bennett, to help Armand regain his speech and to teach him the rules of the ton. Felicity and Armand fall in love instantly, but their path to happiness is beset by obstacles which include the difference in station between Armand and Sarah and a multiplicity of villains.

The discovery of Armand's twin, Bastien, is foreshadowed. He is a pirate known as Captain Cutlass!

180MissBrangwen
Abr 16, 2023, 3:45 am

>176 pamelad: I listened to Once Upon A Christmas Eve by Elizabeth Hoyt last year and decided that I wouldn't read anything else by her. While I liked the story and the general atmosphere, the characters were very flat and the steamy scenes felt off and were too explicit for my liking.

181pamelad
Abr 18, 2023, 2:09 am

>180 MissBrangwen: I agree. Something was off.

10. Everything Else

The Rogue Pirate's Bride by Shana Galen is the last book in the Sons of the Revolution trilogy. The hero is Bastien, brother of the Duc de Valere, now a privateer known as Captain Cutlass. Bastien thinks his whole family died in the French Revolution. The heroine, Raeven, the daughter of a British admiral, has been living with her father aboard ship since she was four. She is a hellion, therefore my second-least favourite type of heroine. (My absolutely least favourite is the fey sprite.) Raeven was born with a head of black hair, so her dying mother named her Raven, but added an extra 'e' so she wouldn't be confused with the bird.

There are sea battles and sword fights. At first Raeven plans to kill Cutlass because she blames him for the death of her fiance, but first she must fight off the attraction she feels. Bastien is wanted by the British and is seeking vengeance on a pirate who killed his mentor. There are many obstacles in the path of true love!

I've been away for a few days, so I read this because I had it with me. I also started Blackthorne's Bride, but that's far too much Shana Galen.

I enjoyed this author's Survivor series, which started with Third Son's a Charm, and the first book in the Sons of the Revolution series, The Making of a Duchess.

182pamelad
Abr 19, 2023, 7:34 pm

5. Second Chances Reuniting with long lost loves; finding Lord/Lady Right after a terrible marriage to Lord/Lady Wrong

Infamous by Minerva Spencer

Spencer's books keep popping up as recommendations but I've avoided them because I thought they were ultra-steamy and full of bondage and discipline, but they're the books written under the author's other nom de plume, S. M. LaViolette. This one was medium-steam, and only towards the end. I enjoyed it and have started another in the same series, Rebels of the Ton.

Celia used to be a nasty young woman who used her vicious wit to ridicule vulnerable members of the ton, in particular the anti-social entomologist Richard Redvers, twin brother of Lucian who is on the point of proposing to Celia, and Richard's friend, Phyllida Singleton. One evening she goes too far and, manipulated by an evil duke who hates Richard, she causes a scandal that sees her banished from the ton. Lurking in the background is an evil duke who has manipulated Celia into her downfall. When we meet her again, she is Mrs Pelham, companion to and demanding old woman. She has to accompany her employer to a Christmas house party, held to celebrate the marriage of Antonia, the half-sister of Lucian and Richard. She is betrothed to the evil duke and has no idea what a mistake she is making.

In the ten years since the scandal, Celia's life has been hard, and if her past comes to light she will lose her position and any shred of respectability she has managed to hold onto. She is quite a different person now - tolerant, kind, and madly attracted to Richard, who reciprocates - but the duke threatens to destroy her.

183christina_reads
Abr 20, 2023, 9:57 am

>182 pamelad: Hmm, Minerva Spencer is an author I keep hearing about, but like you I've been hesitant to try her. Glad to see you enjoyed this one!

184pamelad
Editado: Abr 20, 2023, 6:58 pm

>183 christina_reads: The whole series, Rebels of the Ton, is available on KoboPlus, so I read all three books. Infamous is the pick of them because it has fewer sex scenes and its characters are more believable.

3. Must We? Marriages of convenience.

Notorious by Minerva Spencer

Drusilla, an enormously wealthy debutante whose father was a merchant, has been in love with Gabriel Marlington from the first day she met him, five years ago, but she hides her feelings with barbed, witty repartee. Gabriel is the step-brother of Drusilla's best friend from school, Eva de Courcy. He is the son of a Berber sultan and a duke's daughter who was captured by corsairs and sold into his father's harem. The problem with Gabriel is that it's far too easy to forget that he's the son of a sultan, because he's not clearly distinguishable from the usual perfect Regency hero.

Gabriel is being pursued by a mad earl, a returned soldier with a tragic background. Drusilla is also at risk because of her connection to Gabriel and because of her wealth. She runs a charitable foundation, so she spends time in seedy parts of London with questionable people.

An entertaining read, but there are too many sex scenes and Gabriel, while an engaging hero, isn't believable.

185pamelad
Editado: Abr 25, 2023, 4:52 pm

Duplicate post.

186pamelad
Editado: Abr 21, 2023, 1:51 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls. Heroes with war injuries, deafness, blindness, dyslexia, melancholia, a family history of insanity.....

Outrageous by Minerva Spencer

Eva, Drusilla's friend, is the daughter of a woman who went mad, so despite her enormous dowry and aristocratic heritage she is resigned to never marrying. Her behaviour doesn't help - she throws tantrums and acts on impulse. As the book starts, she's in a carriage with Godric Fleming, Earl of Visel. He's the mad earl from the previous book, and Eva has abducted him to keep him away from Gabriel and Drusilla. But Godric has already snapped out of his mad obsession with Gabriel and is behaving like a normal person. He realises, before Eva does, that the pair of them will have to marry, so he is determined to continue their journey to Scotland and turn Eva's fake elopement into a real one. Godric's tragic past has left him empty and, he believes, unable to love, so even though he lusts after the annoying Eva, he thinks she deserves better than him.

I enjoyed this book too, despite a few problems: Godrick's background is ludicrously tragic; Eva is extremely tiresome; the pair of them are kept apart by misunderstandings and noble sacrifices, which are always tedious.

187pamelad
Abr 24, 2023, 7:06 am

7. Why did I Bother?

The Boxing Baroness by Minerva Spencer

This was tripe. The hero is a duke known as Lord Flawless. The heroine, Marianne, is an orphan who is a boxer in her uncle's female circus. She's notorious not just for the boxing, but also because she was tricked into marriage with Baron Strickland, who turned out to be already married, so she's known as Strickland's whore. Marianne's best friend is Cecile the Sharpshooter, and there's a mysterious blonde knife-thrower, Jo, who's always accompanied by her raven. Lord Flawless has two good friends, who I daresay will end up marrying Cecile and Jo in the next two books of the series.

The book goes on forever, with Flawless and Marianne spending many chapters in bed or talking about it. I skipped a slab and found that everyone was in France and that Marianne was the illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Crown Princess of Sweden.

I will not be reading the rest of the series.

188pamelad
Editado: Abr 25, 2023, 5:34 pm

10. Everything Else

A Dangerous Deceit by Alissa Johnson is the third book in the Thief Takers trilogy but the only one available on KindleUnlimited, so I've started the trilogy at the end. Jane Ballenger lives in a cottage with Mr and Mrs Harmon, who have been looking after her for seventeen years, since she was ten. Jane has a problem with processing what she hears: she mishears words and phrases and often has trouble making sense of what people are saying; she mixes up words when she speaks; she has got into the habit of pretending that she understands what people are saying when she doesn't, so she sometimes comes across as half-witted. This is the Victorian era, when many conditions are misdiagnosed as mental illness and people can be locked away in asylums indefinitely, so Jane stays away from other people. He only relative, an older half-brother, has just died in Russia and has sent Jane his belongings, including a mysterious list that puts Jane at risk from spies and traitors. Sir Gabriel Arkwright, the famous thief taker, is searching for the list.

I liked A Dangerous Deceit. Lots of action, and both Gabriel and Jane are appealing characters. I'd definitely give the other two books a try if they were free!

Alissa Johnson has other series in KindleUnlimited, so I'm going to give The Providence Series a try and have borrowed As Luck Would Have It.

189pamelad
Abr 26, 2023, 5:33 pm

5. Second Chances

Dangerous by Minerva Spencer

Mia was kidnapped by corsairs and sold into a sultan's harem. She has escaped and found her way back to England, where she is an enormous embarrassment to her father the duke who is prepared to marry her to absolutely anyone, even the Marquess of Exley who is shunned by society because he is thought to have murdered two wives. Spencer tells us that the earl is cold and dangerous, but keeps showing us that he isn't, so he's not a believable character. Neither is Mia, who has to be the thirty-two years old for the sake of the plot but doesn't act anywhere near it. She has a secret son, Jibril, who is seventeen.

Despite being very silly, Dangerous was an entertaining read. It's the first book in the Outcasts series. The characters from Outcasts reappear in the Rebels of the Ton series, including Mia's son, who is the hero of Outrageous.

Two Abandoned Books

Scandalous by Minerva Spencer is the third book in the Outcasts series. The hero is an ex-slave from New Orleans, who is now a privateer, captain of his own ship. The heroine is the daughter of missionaries. There are too many sex scenes to read past and no one is believable, so I had to give up.

I'm Only Wicked with You by Julie Anne Long is the third book in the Palace of Rogues series. Although it's ostensibly a Regency romance set in England, there's a lot about America, so it's clearly aimed at an American readership. Long has a serious problem with British currency, which I've come across in her other books. She has introduced decimal currency to Regency England, calling a penny coin a pence and stating that there are 100 pence in a pound. There are 240. I suppose it's confusing if you're not brought up with it. Pre-decimal, the currency was pounds, shilling and pence. A pound contains 20 shillings. A shilling contains 12 pence. Pence is a plural, abstract term, and the coin is called a penny. There were also half penny coins, called ha' pennies and quarter penny coins, called farthings. But a sixpenny coin is called sixpence and a threepenny coin is thruppence.

190pamelad
Abr 29, 2023, 5:48 pm

4. Steamless

The Sandalwood Princess by Loretta Chase

Amanda Cavencourt, sister of a viscount, has spent most of her life in India but on her brother's marriage she decides to return to her family's ancestral home in England. Her great friend, the Rani Simhi, gives her a parting gift of a sandalwood statue. The statue has a very complicated history, most of which Amanda is unaware, and is being sought by an old lover of the Rani. He has offered a thief, the Raven, 50,000 pounds to steal the statue. It's not the Raven's usual line of work because normally he is more noble than that, but 50,000 is a great deal of money. (I suspect it would be many millions in today's GBP, so it's a ludicrous amount.)

The plot is ridiculous and the Indian characters are stereotypically exotic victims of Orientalism, but it's Loretta Chase, so I enjoyed it. Close enough to steamless. There's a lot of sexual attraction, but no detailed descriptions of sexual congress. The book was first published in 1990, and won a RITA Award.

191pamelad
Editado: Abr 29, 2023, 6:14 pm

3. Must We? Marriages of convenience.

Miss Amelia's Mistletoe Marquess by Jenni Fletcher.

When Amelia Fairclough seeks refuge from a snowstorm, she ends up spending the night in a gatehouse occupied only by a handsome man who says he is an estate manager. He's actually Cassius Whitlock, Marquess of Falconmore, and when news gets out that he and Amelia have spent a night together, she is irretrievably compromised so he offers marriage.

Cassius was a soldier in Afghanistan (the era is Victorian, in the time of the Great Game, as described in Peter Hopkirk's books and Rudyard Kipling's Kim) and is riddled with guilt. He believes he will never love again, so it doesn't matter whom he marries. Amelia is a dutiful young woman who believes that happiness is selfish.

I read this because it won an RNA Award (a British Romance award), but it was bland and dull, and Amelia was excessively tiresome. It's not very steamy - closed door and not graphic - which is a plus for me.

192pamelad
Abr 30, 2023, 5:25 am

I read today that the Stone of Scone has been moved from Edinburgh Castle to be used for Charles's coronation. We should be grateful to the amorous couple who shared a crypt with the Stone of Scone in Jo Beverley's Something Wicked and prevented its removal to France. >111 pamelad:, >113 pamelad:

193pamelad
Editado: Maio 3, 2023, 7:20 pm

5. Second Chances

When You Wish Upon a Duke by Charis Michaels

In the afterword Michaels says that her book, like many Regency romances, walks a fine line between history and creative license. The heroine is a travel agent, specialising in European trips for women in the days when there were no female travel agents and no all-woman trips. Because she has spent time in Iceland, she is recruited by a duke whose cousin has been kidnapped by Icelandic pirates. The rescue depends in part on her disguise, her skill with a dagger, and on poisoning the pirates, so it is fortunate indeed that in an isolated Icelandic village she comes across a new and unusual shop, run by an Englishman, where she is able to purchase everything she needs disguise, poison, dagger .

By design, all of my books are a wild ride, but this one is particularly over-the-top. Perhaps that's because it was written entirely in quarantine during the pandemic.

When You Wish Upon a Duke has potential because the characters are appealing, there's humour, and the writing has verve. Unfortunately it's too long and too messy. I don't mind a ridiculous plot, but it has to have its own logic and this didn't.

194pamelad
Maio 3, 2023, 7:18 pm

5. Second Chances with a pinch of Damaged Duke and a smidgeon of What Price for this Heroine.

Barbarous by Minerva Spencer

Heroine: Daphne, an earl's widow with twin ten-year-old sons and a murky past. She's at risk from a wicked cousin.
Hero: Hugh, the long-lost heir of the dead earl. He was captured by pirates, a slave to a sultan then a privateer. He has one eye and is missing a finger.
Sex scenes: Far too many and much too graphic, mainly in the second half of the book.
Plot: Sex, violence, treachery and pirates. Will I, won't I tell him my dreadful secret?
Era: Regency.

I read Barbarous because I'd read about Daphne, Hugh and the twins in Infamous, which takes place when the twins are adults. I had no patience with Daphne's secret and wanted her to just tell Hugh and stop moaning about it. I could also have done without being bombarded by the characters' lustful thoughts, which are generic filler.

195pamelad
Editado: Maio 6, 2023, 7:34 pm

5. Second Chances

Two Secret Sins by Anna Campbell

No touchstone. I'll add the book and see if it appears. Done!

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

The Worst Lord in London by Anna Campbell

These two books are related, although they are in two different series. In Two Secret Sins, Eliot Ridley, a viscount with a spotless reputation and a promising political career, is in love with Verena, a notorious widow who is determined never to marry again. Eliot and Verena send a lot of time in bed together, and the entire plot consists of, "Can Eliot persuade Verena to marry him?"

The Worst Lord in London is Verena's childhood friend, Leighton Anstey, Earl of Shelbourne. He's competing in a carriage race with Eliot Ridley and invites a young woman to ride with him. Kate Starr, a wealthy mill owner, has loved Shelbourne from afar for fourteen years, even though she has never spoken to him and he has no idea who she is.

Anna Campbell's writing is patchy. I enjoyed her Sons of Sin series, and her Dashing Widows series, but these two books are disappointing. Too steamy for my liking and there isn't a lot else going on.

196pamelad
Editado: Maio 7, 2023, 6:54 pm

I've read two more by Anna Campbell, an Australian writer of Regency romances. I've enjoyed the verve and humour of some of her books, so when I come across one I haven't read I'm prepared to give it a try. She's tossed off quite a few books over the last couple of years, but none of them so far have been up to scratch. At least they're short!

2. What Price for this Heroine?

Three Times Tempted

No touchstone, so I'll have to add the book. It's the third in the A Scandal in Mayfair series.

Heroine: used to be selfish and thoughtless but is kind at heart and is doing better; not bound by convention; her wicked father is trying to marry her off to a man who will further his own political ambitions, with no regard for her preferences, and is prepared to commit murder to get his own way; interested in landscape gardening.
Hero: an American landscape gardener; a self-made man who is not bound by British class prejudice and wants to marry the heroine.
Sex scenes: too many
Plot: will the hero and heroine be able to escape her evil father and live happily ever after?

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Trouble with Earls

Another missing touchstone.

Heroine: a bluestocking, overshadowed by her two older sisters.
Hero: thinks he's a terrible person because nothing he did could meet with the approval of his cruel, overbearing father, who punished him brutally for being alive.
Sex scenes: too many
Plot: heroine is compromised by hero, so they have to marry. She loves him, but he believes he does not deserve her love. Can he overcome his fears so that their marriage can succeed?

Both of these books read as though they were tossed off in an afternoon. Quite a few contemporary Americanisms, even though the author is Australian. For shame!

ETA Snicker versus snigger. I think of snickering as something horses do but have read that it's the American word for snigger. Is this correct? A snigger is a sardonic, knowing laugh.

197christina_reads
Maio 8, 2023, 11:14 am

>196 pamelad: Yes, Americans would use "snicker" to mean "sardonic, knowing laugh" -- though I think we'd also use "snigger." Both words are familiar to me. The thing horses do is "whicker," at least in my brain.

198pamelad
Maio 9, 2023, 5:53 pm

>197 christina_reads: Thanks, Christina.

199LadyoftheLodge
Maio 10, 2023, 6:25 pm

>197 christina_reads: Another horse word for snigger is nicker/nickering. It is defined as a soft neighing sound.

200pamelad
Editado: Maio 12, 2023, 5:30 pm

>199 LadyoftheLodge: I haven't come across nicker but am familiar with whicker which has a similar meaning.

I recently came across blaggard. Is this a recognised American spelling of blackguard?

201christina_reads
Maio 12, 2023, 5:31 pm

>200 pamelad: It is NOT! I will die on this hill, lol. Merriam-Webster does have an entry for "blaggard," but it just redirects you to "blackguard."

202pamelad
Maio 12, 2023, 5:34 pm

>201 christina_reads: What a relief! For shame, Charis Michaels!

203pamelad
Maio 14, 2023, 5:27 am

5. Second Chances

The Dueling Duchess by Minerva Spencer is the second book in the Wicked Women of Whitechapel series, which is set in a female circus, Farnham's Fantastical Female Fayre. Cecile Tremblay is a sharp-shooter, still extraordinarily beautiful at thirty-six years old. Twenty-two years ago, in the uncertainty of the French Revolution, she was secretly married to an elderly duke in order to preserve his property, but the documents have been lost and Cecile has kept the marriage a secret. In the previous book, The Boxing Baroness, Cecile fell in love with Gaius Darlington, Marquess of Carlisle and heir to a dukedom, who, unwilling to realise how much he loved Cecile, had insulted her by inviting her to become his paid mistress while he financed his impoverished estates by marrying an heiress. Gaius, known as Guy, has now come to his senses and is determined to marry Cecile, but she will have nothing to do with him, so he joins the circus. The timeline leaps back and forth between Cecile's and Guy's love affair a year ago, when they were travelling through France in a circus caravan in search of another character's kidnapped younger brother, and the present in which another heir has turned up to usurp Guy's title and property and Cecile is being manipulated by a wicked cousin who knows her secrets. There are numerous minor characters and plenty of drama and plot twists.

Cecile is a few years older than Guy, which is a departure. I liked both main characters and was keen for them to sort out their many problems and end up happily together. I also liked the humorous repartee and the lively writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

204pamelad
Editado: Maio 14, 2023, 5:45 am

I've read A Talent for Trickery by Alissa Johnson, A Duchess by Midnight by Charis Michaels and The Summer of Wine and Scandal by Shana Galen. Listing them here until I'm ready to review them.

205pamelad
Editado: Maio 15, 2023, 8:44 pm

10. Everything Else

A Talent for Trickery and A Gift for Guile by Alissa Johnson are the first two books in the Thief Takers trilogy. The thief takers are Owen Renderwell, a viscount who is the hero of the first book; Samuel Brass, a reticent man-mountain who is the hero of the second book; Sir Gabriel Arkwright, the hero of the third book, A Dangerous Deceit. I started with the third book, which turned out to be the one I liked best. Its heroine has an interesting medical condition and isn't a criminal. I really do prefer my heroes and heroines to be law-abiding: no highwaymen, preferably no pirates, definitely no thieves.

A Talent for Trickery

The Walker siblings are living incognito in a country village because their father was a thief and a cheat whose enemies would take revenge on his children. Lottie, the elder daughter, with the help of her sister Esther, has brought up their young brother Peter in ignorance of his father's crimes, so when the thief takers come looking for Walker's journals they're not at all welcome. Eight years ago Lottie had been on the verge of falling in love with Renderwell, who had been working with her father on a case involving missing diamonds and a kidnapped duchess, but she believes that Renderwell betrayed her father, so has returned his letters unread. Even if Lottie can overcome her mistrust, she's still the daughter of a criminal and much more heavily involved in her father's crimes than Renderwell realises. She's not a suitable wife for a viscount.

(The author calls the duchess Lady Someone, which is a really basic mistake and quite off-putting. You'd think a writer of historical romances could be bothered to get the titles correct.)

A Gift for Guile

Esther, the second sister, isn't even Walker's. She's come to London, disguised in widow's weeds to avoid Walker's enemies, in search of her real father George Smith. She thinks she can look after herself because she's a skilled knife-thrower. Sir Samuel Brass is horrified by the risks Esther is taking and offers to help. There is much bickering and misunderstanding between Esther and Samuel, but underneath it all they are very much attracted to one another. Esther believes she is unsuitable ......See above.

These two are steamier than A Dangerous Deceit, which is not a plus.

ETA Something I forgot. In A Talent for Trickery the hero is insisting that the heroine needs to have guns for protection, which struck me as Not Very British. In an historical romance set in England, guns belong on the hunting field and in duels and there's usually a bit of babble about the manufacturer e.g. Manton duelling pistols, Purdey's something or others.

206pamelad
Editado: Maio 15, 2023, 8:35 pm

10. Everything else

A Duchess by Midnight by Charis Michaels

I almost returned this book to the library without reading it because I couldn't get past the heroine's name, Drewsmina. She's known as Drew, a common name in Regency England I don't think. Anyway, she's the once-upon-a-time ugly step-sister of a Cinderella clone, Cyne, who is married to Prince Adolphus, the seventh son of King George. After an ill-fated love affair that left her devastated, Drew was consoled by her kind-hearted step-sister and realised the error of her ways. Now in her late twenties, Drew's aim in life is to forge a career helping other young women who don't fit in. Her first paying client is the Duke of Lachlan, who has assumed responsibility for his nieces. He wants them to have a season, but they have no idea how to manage in society and his own reputation is not the best.

Overall, this is cheerful, lively and humorous and I enjoyed it, although the writing is a sloppy in places with vocabulary mistakes and misspellings, including the dread "blaggard" for "blackguard." It needs a good editor. Sometimes when writers get further into a series, they forget they're supposed to be in 18th Century England, so they end up writing strange mixture of pseudo-historical formal English and twenty-first century cliches.

This is the third book in the Awakened by a Kiss series, where the heroines are based on minor characters from fairytales.

207pamelad
Maio 15, 2023, 7:25 pm

The Summer of Wine and Scandal by Shana Galen

A novella. The heroine has a terrible past, not her fault, but beyond ruinous, so she's not received by society. She digs the hero's curricle out of the mud, so he invites her and her family to dinner with the people he is staying with, the first step in her rehabilitation. The fall in love but she is not worthy etc.

208pamelad
Maio 15, 2023, 7:38 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

Rogue Countess by Amy Sandas

The hero was trapped into marriage with the sixteen-year-old heroine, and doesn't realise that she was as innocent a victim as he was. He deserted her on her wedding day and she has made a life for herself but now, after eight years he has returned and she wants to make him suffer. I'm not at all keen on revenge themes, so I didn't have a lot of sympathy for these two. Plus, the book is full of grammatical and vocabulary errors.

209pamelad
Maio 16, 2023, 3:47 pm

I've been looking for new authors.

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh - abandoned. I read 19% and decided I was too bored to finish. It was going to be a "madly attracted but kept apart by lack of communication and misunderstandings" with a touch of "I am not worthy."

3. Must We? Marriages of convenience.

A Match for the Marquess by Lillian Marek

The heroine, Anna, is compromised when the hero, Philip, climbs through her window thinking the room is empty. Her screams wake the rest of the house party. Anna is the daughter of an earl, but when her parents died in a carriage accident her wicked uncle appropriated her inheritance, isolated her from her parents' friends, and treated her as a servant. While her uncle was away, she had received a letter inviting her to a house party and persuaded her aunt and cousin to accompany her. Both Anna and Philip resent being forced into marriage, but things are looking promising until the wicked uncle goes off his head.

This was a pleasant read with a bit of humour. Warning: there's a nauseating epilogue. It's there to set up the rest of the Victorian Adventures series, which features Anna and Philip and their children.

210christina_reads
Maio 16, 2023, 3:52 pm

Ah, the nauseating epilogue -- a staple of historical romance!

211pamelad
Editado: Maio 18, 2023, 3:33 pm

>210 christina_reads: Mary Balogh is the exemplar. The sun shining on the picnic; hordes of happy children; the siblings reunited; the once-wicked relatives, now reformed.....

10. Everything Else

Lady Emily's Exotic Journey by Lillian Marek

Hero: heir to a French Comte; estranged from his family; pretending to be an adventuring nobody
Heroine: daughter of the earl and countess, the Tremaines, from A Match for the Marquess; travelling through Turkey and Mesopotamia with her parents and her sister-in-law
Sub-heroine: the sister-in-law, beautiful and rigidly correct due to scandalous parentage
Sub-hero: handsome diplomat and translator, also rigidly correct due to the racism he endures because his mother is an Arab (sister of a sheik)

Parts of the book are dramatic, with danger and betrayal, but there are whole chapters where the hero and heroine muse separately on their impossible love, which are tedious and annoying.

Pros: humour, acceptable grammar; interesting details about travel in the middle east; the sex scenes are brief and not graphic.
Cons: whole chapters of nothing; hero and heroine are kept apart by not much.

A pleasant enough read. I skimmed the dull bits.

3. Must We?

The Debutante's Secret by Sophia James

For tautology fans: it's a hidden secret.

Hero: a gorgeous but dissolute man whose mother was mentally ill and father a blustering bully
Heroine: a beautiful young woman whose drug-addicted mother abandoned her respectable life and chose danger, depravity and penury, dragging her daughter with her.

The hero and heroine meet the first time on a snowy night. The twelve-year-old girl is trying to protect her mother who has been beaten up by a violent lover. They're a long way from home and the hero gives them a lift in his carriage. They meet again when the heroine is the most beautiful debutante of the season. She's been rescued by her father's brother and adopted into his respectable, happy family. The hero and heroine recognise one another and are drawn to each other, but she is looking for a respectable husband and a calm, orderly life, and he wants what's best for her.

Nothing special, but I liked it. Sophia James is a New Zealand writer.

Whenever I click Save Message, the touchstones disappear.

212christina_reads
Maio 18, 2023, 3:34 pm

>211 pamelad: It's so true...I'm a big Balogh fan, but those epilogues are a lot.

213MissBrangwen
Editado: Maio 20, 2023, 3:37 am

>206 pamelad: That series sounds fun and I added it to my audible wishlist. I like the idea that the stories are loosely based on fairy tales.

214LadyoftheLodge
Maio 20, 2023, 3:35 pm

>212 christina_reads: The epilogues I have been encountering lately feature happily married couples and they have babies, which completes their lives! (Really? Not being cynical here, just seems like an overused trope. Maybe if I was a biological mom I would feel differently. . . )

215pamelad
Editado: Maio 20, 2023, 4:20 pm

>206 pamelad: Charis Michaels is worth trying. I liked A Duchess a Day, the first book in her fairytale series, Awakened by a Kiss.

>214 LadyoftheLodge: There is no such thing as an overused trope in historical romance fiction! The hero and heroine are always fabulous parents, as well.

216pamelad
Maio 20, 2023, 5:06 pm

Gentlemen of Honour by Sophia James is a collection of two books from the Gentlemen of Honour series: A Night of Secret Surrender and A Proposition for the Comte.

A Night of Secret Surrender

Major Summerly Shayborne is in France, spying for the English, when a woman in disguise warns him that he has been discovered and must flee. She is Celeste Fournier, left to survive alone in the murky, violent world of espionage when her father was murdered. Celeste and Shay had fallen in love in England, where she was brought up, so even though her respectable British life is over and she believes that she is degraded beyond repair, she is desperate to save him. This is a bit dark and violent, but there's a happy ending, I like James's writing, and she's from New Zealand.

A Proposition for the Comte

Aurelian de la Tomber, Comte de Beaumont, is a French spy, a good friend of Major Shayborne. He's in England searching for gold that was donated to Napoleon's campaign. Lady Violet Addington is a widow whose violent husband was mixed up in a conspiracy to defraud the French government of the donated gold. She's now caught up in the conspiracy and her life is a risk. On her way home from a ball she stops her carriage to pick up a wounded man, who turns out to be Aurelian. They're madly attracted to one another despite being unsure of whether they can trust each other.

I liked this one too, despite the violence and murky spy morality. James provides historical context and lots of drama.

217pamelad
Editado: Maio 22, 2023, 5:52 pm

The Arrangement by Sylvia Day is a collection of three books: Mischief and the Marquess by Sylvia Day, The Duke's Treasure by Minerva Spencer and The Inconvenient Countess by Kristin Vayden. The first two were quite readable and entertaining, though I remember nothing about them and probably had to skip a lot of graphic sexual encounters, but the third, despite a promising story, is ruined by atrocious grammar.

I need a new category for the damaged heroines in >216 pamelad:. Thinking.

I have a comma problem which I only see after posting, so I often have to edit my posts to remove a few.

218pamelad
Maio 23, 2023, 5:30 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

I found The Heart of an Earl by K J Jackson on my old Kindle. It's the first book in the Box of Draupnir series.

The box, which appears mid-way through the story, is both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because it magnifies business profits and a curse because the quest to own it drives men mad. I wish the box had appeared earlier, but by the time it did I was interested enough in the hero, the mysterious Des, and the heroine, Julianna, to want to see that they had a happy ending. Des was press-ganged onto a ship and has spent seven years trying to remain alive so that he can return to his much-loved wife. He's on his way home when he receives a letter telling him that his wife is dead, and the vessel is attacked by pirates. Julianna, a young woman travelling with her parents, is abducted by the pirates. Des, who now has nothing to live for, risks his life in an attempt to save her, and is about to be killed for it, but the pirates let him go. Years later Des, who is now a crewman on a British privateer, finds Julianna aboard the pirate ship and saves her. They fall in love, but every time it looks as though they might achieve their happy ending something awful happens, usually because of the box. I lost patience and skipped to the end.

I cannot recommend The Heart of an Earl. The story is ludicrously far-fetched, even for an historical romance, and the writing is poor. The box theme is just silly.

219pamelad
Editado: Maio 23, 2023, 5:40 pm

Making All Steam, No Plot a sub-category of Why Did I Bother?

Expanding the What Price for this Heroine? to include other damaged heroines and trying to think of a good name for it.

These are very important problems!

I've created a category for romances with adventurous plots: spies, criminals, pirates

220LadyoftheLodge
Maio 24, 2023, 12:33 pm

>219 pamelad: Thanks for making me laugh today!! I like that "All Steam" category. Carry on!

221pamelad
Maio 25, 2023, 3:39 am

>220 LadyoftheLodge: Time spent on these great philosophical questions is never wasted.

222pamelad
Maio 27, 2023, 4:16 pm

4. Steamless

Miss Fleming Falls in Love by Emma Melbourne

This appears to be the author's first book and it's a good start. It's a Regency romance with appealing characters, lively writing, and humour. The heroine is a young woman whose father, a viscount, drowned himself when he lost a fortune at cards, leaving a huge debt of honour to an earl, who is the hero. The heroine's brother is in the process of losing everything that remains. The book begins with the heroine impersonating her brother to the earl in an attempt to negotiate a way of settling her father's debt.

This is a standard story done well. It's available on KindleUnlimited.

223LadyoftheLodge
Maio 30, 2023, 1:49 pm

>222 pamelad: Taking a BB on this. I read the sample book on my Kindle app. Another draw for me on this one is the heroine's name, which was mine too before I got remarried. Fleming with one "m" is an unusual spelling. I enjoyed the scene where Miss Fleming was playing chess against herself in the library before our hero the earl enters to find her there.

224lowelibrary
Maio 30, 2023, 11:28 pm

>223 LadyoftheLodge: I was also Miss Fleming (one m) before my marriage.

225christina_reads
Maio 31, 2023, 3:09 pm

>222 pamelad: BB for me as well!

226pamelad
Editado: Jun 1, 2023, 5:02 pm

Greetings to the Miss Flemings. I hope you like Miss Fleming Falls in Love. You too, Christina.

I read the next book for BingoDOG - a best seller from 20 years ago. I couldn't find an Australian bestsellers site, so used a site for books published in 2003 instead. Stephanie Laurens is a popular writer of historical romances, so I'm assuming that her book sold a respectable number of copies.

10. Everything Else

A Gentleman's Honor by Stephanie Laurens is the second book in the Bastion Club series. The club members are titled men who operated as spies during the Napoleonic Wars and, now that they are back in England, need to find wives. I've read the first book in the series, The Lady Chosen, remember nothing about it, and gave it a mediocre 2.5 stars. I would give this one the same, mainly because of the ludicrously overwritten sex scenes. Laurens's books start off OK, but once the attraction blooms between the hero and heroine there are whole chapters of transcendental sexual encounters. They often start with "he took her mouth" which always makes me laugh because I think, "Where?" However, Laurens is a competent writer so her prose is grammatical and readable. Although she's Australian, only the Americanised versions of her books are available here so, while I'm inured to the spelling changes, I'm annoyed that a cricket game has been changed to a generic, baseball-like game and see no need to change a British term like "barman" to the contemporary American "barkeep".

Heroine: Alicia is capable, twenty-four-year-old woman who is pretending to be a widow in order to launch her younger sister, Adriana, on the ton. There are three younger brothers and no money, so Adriana needs to find an amenable, wealthy husband who will help her brothers and pay their school fees.
Hero: Anthony Blake, a viscount. He discovers Alicia in the garden of a house where a ball is being held. She is standing next to a dead man while holding a dagger.
Plot: The dead man is a traitor whose killer is trying to blame the murder on Alicia. The romantic plot is hard to credit because a woman as dutiful as Alicia just wouldn't behave the way she does.

ETA I'd already filled that square! It's like when you forget to buy something at the supermarket e.g. bay leaves, then you buy them every time you go shopping and end up with a year's supply.

227LadyoftheLodge
Jun 2, 2023, 4:24 pm

>224 lowelibrary: It is always nice to meet another Fleming!

228pamelad
Jun 3, 2023, 3:43 pm

5. Second Chances

A Lady of His Own by Stephanie Laurens, third in the Bastion Club series.

Hero: Charles St Austell, Earl of Lostwithiel. Like the other members of the Bastion Club he's an ex-spy. He's searching for a traitor who was selling secrets to the French during the Napoleonic Wars. His suspicions have fallen on a neighbour, now deceased, who was the half-brother of the heroine. He needs to marry but is relieved to have an excuse to quit the London season because superficial debutante's hold no appeal for him. He wants a woman of substance who will understand him.
Heroine: Lady Penelope Selborne. She donated her virginity to Charles thirteen years ago when she was thirteen, but decided he didn't love her and has managed to avoid him ever since. Her half-brother, the suspected traitor, was heir to her father, an earl, and now that both are dead the earldom has passed to a cousin of her father. The cousin's son, Nicholas, is staying at Penelope's home, which now belongs to his father, and is acting suspicously, so she is following him in secret, dressed in breeches and riding astride. (These details are significant in historical romances and demonstrate that Penny is a reckless and independent woman.)
Plot: Penny and Charles join forces because their investigations overlap and because Charles, an interrogator who has been trained to kill, has to protect Penny and Nicholas from an assassin. Charles has always loved Penny and is determined to woo her and marry her, but Penny thinks he's driven only by lust.

I liked this one more than A Gentleman's Honor because Penny's actions were consistent with her character, unlike Alicia's. There are far too many sex scenes, but then again, the book would be far too long if there weren't multiple chapters of purple prose to skip.

229pamelad
Jun 7, 2023, 9:32 pm

Waiting on a Damaged Heroine Category.

A Warriner to Tempt Her by Virginia Heath

Heroine: Bella, an earl's daughter, was attacked at Vauxhall Gardens a year ago and has been depressed and frightened ever since. She's gradually gaining confidence by volunteering at the Foundling Hospital. She's an intelligent young woman with an interest in medicine.
Hero: Joe the third son of the notorious Warriners. His family has had a terrible reputation for generations, but Joe and his brothers are restoring their good name. Joe is a doctor, the third son of an earl.
Plot: Bella is threatened with ghastly medical treatments for mental illness. There's a smallpox outbreak.

I read this because the author is British. She must be northern, because she says sat for sitting, stood for standing e.g. he was stood by the fireplace. Readable but nothing special.

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

A Warriner to Seduce Her by Virginia Heath

Heroine: Fliss is a teacher in a convent for wayward girls. She has been brought to London by her wicked uncle. Fliss thinks she's going to see the sights and have a season (despite being already 25) but her uncle is using her as bait for a disgusting old earl he wants to do business with.
Hero: Jake is the youngest Warriner. He's a spy whose job is to seduce Fliss to get information about the wicked uncle.
Plot: Fliss is in danger from the uncle's criminal associates. She's falling in love with Jake despite her better judgement.

This is the last book in the series, so it has a nauseating epilogue. Seventeen children, all with the black hair and bright blue eyes of the Warriners.

230pamelad
Jun 8, 2023, 3:49 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James

Jemma had been married to Elija for only a few weeks when she surprised him in his office tupping (historical romance word) his mistress on his desk. (There's a reason for this, but not a good one.) She left for France the next day and now, eight years later, has returned to England to provide Elija with an heir to his dukedom. Jemma has always loved Elija, but not only is his life so devoted for duty that he has no time for her, but the stress and long hours are exacerbating a heart condition that promises to kill him within weeks.

Can Jemma make Elija fall in love with her? Is there a cure for his heart condition? Does everyone need to play quite so many games of chess?

231pamelad
Jun 13, 2023, 4:34 pm

5. Second Chances

Shattered Rainbows by Mary Jo Putney is a Kindle freebie. It is the fourth book in the Fallen Angels series.

Hero: Lord Michael Kenyon first meets the heroine when she is comforting a dying soldier in a battlefield hospital. He's an army major and the younger son of a duke.
Heroine: Catherine is married to a philandering army captain. She has a young daughter and a spotless reputation. She followed the drum with her parents, and now with her husband.
Plot: everything but the kitchen sink. This book seems to go on forever. It starts during the Napoleonic Wars and continues through the Battle of Waterloo, then back to England, a reunion with a rich and unreasonable relative, a wicked cousin, a masquerade, a kidnapping, the hero and heroine being hunted like foxes. Catherine's husband conveniently dies, but despite her love for Michael she pretends he is still alive so that Michael won't feel he has to offer her marriage. This is drivel.

River of Fire by Mary Jo Putney is the fifth book in the series. I borrowed it on Overdrive and read a third of it before giving up due to boredom. I know what's going to happen and can't be bothered.

232pamelad
Jun 14, 2023, 7:08 pm

5. Steamless

Mistress of Willowvale by Patricia Veryan

This Georgian romance was first published in 1981 and is now available on KindleUnlimited. I'm a fan of Veryan's adventure/romances so was very pleased to find this freebie. I usually borrow them from the Open Library and while I very much appreciate that so many formerly out of print books are available there, the reading experience is nowhere near seamless.

Hero: Kit Thorndyke's much-loved twin brother Kevin is taller, better looking, more charming, and the heir to their father's earldom. Kit is a soldier, wounded out of the Battle of Culloden, the one expected to die in battle, but it's Kevin who dies in Kit's arms. Kit sells his commission and announces his intention of marrying his childhood friend, Leonie, to whom he has been betrothed for six years. But he doesn't know that Leonie has been ruined and is now the mother of a five-year-old boy.
Heroine: Leonie accepts Kit's offer of marriage, even though she knows she is trapping him, in order to provide for her son and because she still loves Kit. He's an angry man who feels betrayed, but he doesn't know the whole story.
Plot: There's plenty going on, and lots of villains to choose from. The British are determined to round up fugitive Jacobites and execute them in a particularly bestial way. Some mercenary members of the ton are threatening Kit and Leonie, and the reasons gradually become clear. There's a lot of duelling.

I enjoyed this and can recommend Patricia Veryan.

233pamelad
Jun 15, 2023, 5:45 pm

5. Steamless

Falling for Chloe by Diane Farr

Chloe and Gil have been friends since childhood, so when they're trapped together in a cottage overnight no one really believes that any seduction occurred, but Gil's mother decides to take advantage of the situation and arrange a marriage. Chloe's parents had a miserable marriage, so she has never wanted to marry, and Gil has never looked at Chloe that way.

Light, cheerful and pleasant. It's a bit too tidy, but I liked it. It's available on KoboPlus.

234christina_reads
Jun 15, 2023, 6:02 pm

>233 pamelad: That one sounds cute!

235pamelad
Editado: Jun 19, 2023, 7:50 pm

>234 christina_reads: Another cute one follows. A lot of Diane Farr's books are in KoboPlus, so I've been having a binge.

4. Steamless

The Mistletoe Test by Diane Farr

AS in Falling for Chloe, two of the main characters grew up together. The hero, Gavin DuFrayne has returned from Barbados a rich man, but he's still resentful that his uncle left the family fortune to his wife, Agnes, and not to the DuFrayne family. Agnes DuFrayne is very much attached to her dead brother's family, the Penningtons, on whom she spends DeFrayne money. Even so, Gavin is very much attracted to Felicity Pennington who is still unmarried at 23. Both Gavin and Felicity are good-humoured people, and there's some amusing banter between them.

Aunt Agnes, at Felicity's request, is going to bring out Felicity's younger sister Lulu, a delightful girl but prone to landing in scrapes. Lulu falls in love at first meeting with Oliver, the son of a bishop, whose family is pushing marriage with a bad-tempered young woman.
Short, pleasant, frothy and undemanding.

The Fortune Hunter by Diane Farr

George, Lord Rival is looking for an heiress, but when he meets Lady Olivia Fairfax, the answer to his prayers, he mistakes her for a servant and tells her the truth, that she is at the top of his heiress list. George and Olivia become good friends, and fall in love, but Olivia has been conned before, so she doesn't trust him.

This one isn't quite steamless, in that Olivia and George spend a lot of time lusting after one another, but whatever happens (did anything happen?) is off-stage.

236pamelad
Editado: Jun 22, 2023, 6:39 pm

4. Steamless and Almost Steamless.

Playing to Win by Diane Farr

Trevor Whitlatch, a successful businessman, is looking for an aristocratic bride, so when he meets the beautiful Clarissa, daughter of a courtesan, marriage is not on his mind. But Clarissa, who has been brought up far from her mother in a girls' school yearns for respectability.

Once Upon a Christmas by Diane Farr

Celia Delacourt is the great-grand-daughter of a duke. Her grandfather was disowned and she has been brought up in genteel poverty as the daughter of a vicar. Her entire family died while she was away on a visit and she has nowhere to live, so when the wife of the current duke offers her a home she accepts. The duchess, an insanely controlling woman, plans to train Celia to become a suitable wife to John Delacourt, the heir to the dukedom, who is a risk, or so his mother believes, of contracting an unsuitable alliance. John and Celia become great friends, but his bizarre behaviour has persuaded Celia that he suffers bouts of insanity, so she wants to help him but doesn't see him as a potential husband.

That's the last of the free Diane Farr books on KoboPlus. I've enjoyed them all. They're gently humorous, steamless or at least semi-steamless, short, light-hearted and grammatical.

9. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates

The Smithfield Bargain by Jo Ann Ferguson

Romayne Smithfield, granddaughter of a duke, elopes with man her grandfather refuses to countenance. The old man is quite right and it's impossible understand what Romayne sees in this nasty piece of work. Romayne is obstinate, completely lacking in common sense and snobbish, so she’s no prize either. The hero, James MacKinnon, who is a soldier in search of a traitor, saves Romayne from a band of cut-throats and is compelled to marry her for reasons that don’t make much sense. There's also a plot strand about an inheritance. Poor Romayne is in the dark about everything all the time. It's not quite steamless because there's a lot of lustful yearning, but it's closed door and not at all graphic.

Although this was a mess, I've read a lot worse, and am giving Ferguson another try with Lord Radcliffe's Season.

237pamelad
Jun 23, 2023, 5:35 pm

5. Second Chances

Lord Radcliffe's Season by Jo Ann Ferguson

The widowed Lady Lisabeth Montague barely survived her disastrous marriage and has no plans to marry again. Tristan Radcliffe, a wounded war hero and a marquess, is a distant cousin of Lisabeth's husband. He has descended on Lisabeth with little warning to receive instruction in the ways of the ton and to find a bride.

This was an improvement on The Smithfield Bargain. Light, short and pleasant.

3. Must We? Marriages of convenience.

His Unexpected Bride by Jo Ann Ferguson

Cameron Hawksmoor and Tess Masterson wake up together one morning to find that they were married overnight. Cameron was drunk, or perhaps drugged, and Tess wasn't even there.

I don't expect Historical Romance plots to make sense in the real world, but I expect them to stand up in Historical Romance World. This doesn't. It gets worse!

Ferguson has written fifty or more books, many of them available on KoboPlus and KindleUnlimited, but from my experience their standard is variable.

238pamelad
Editado: Jun 27, 2023, 5:03 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

She Tempts the Duke, Lord of Temptation and Lord of Wicked Intentions by Lorraine Heath

On the death of their father, ostensibly in a riding accident but more likely murdered, his three sons are imprisoned in a tower by their wicked uncle who is determined to remove every obstacle to inheriting his brother's dukedom. Fortunately, on her way to visit the boys Mary, their playmate from a neighbouring estate, hears their uncle plotting and sets the boys free. The fourteen-year-old Sebastian and Tristan are identical twins and their younger brother, Rafe, is ten. As the first-born twin, Sebastian is now the duke and responsible for his brothers. He decides that their best chance for survival is to split up, so he joins the army, sells Tristan to a sea captain, and deposits Rafe in a workhouse. The story begins twelve years later, when the brothers have re-united and are ready to reclaim the dukedom.

The first book is the story of Sebastian, who has dreadful facial injuries from the Crimean War. His heroine is Mary, the childhood friend who saved the boys. Tristan, now Captain Crimson, is the hero of the second book. His heroine is Anne, who hires Tristan to sail her to Scutari to mourn at the grave of her dead fiance. Sebastian and Tristan bear physical wounds, and their harsh lives have made them unable to fit into the ton, but it is Rafe who is the most damaged. He escaped the brutality of the workhouse for life on the London streets and cannot forgive himself for the crimes he has committed. Nor can he forgive his older brothers for abandoning him. But Evelyn, illegitimate daughter of an earl, sold to Rafe by her dastardly half-brother, melts his heart of stone.

Lorraine Heath is hit-or-miss but these three books, the Lost Lords of Pembook series, were hits. The ending was much too tidy, but sometimes that's what you want!

239pamelad
Jun 28, 2023, 5:48 pm

The Windham Brides Box Set Books 1-3 by Grace Burrowes - No Other Duke Will Do

I'd read the first two books in this box set and hadn't planned to read the third, but I was away and had run out of froth. It was OK. Nothing much happened, but the hero and heroine were quite pleasant and there was a happy ending.

240pamelad
Editado: Jul 2, 2023, 5:05 pm

5. Second Chances

An Affair with a Notorious Heiress by Lorraine Heath

I almost put this in 7. Why Did I Bother? under All steam, no plot, but there's a skerrick of a plot, and the grammar is OK.

241pamelad
Editado: Jul 2, 2023, 5:20 pm

4. Steamless

A Lady's Favor by Josi S. Kilpack

Bianca Davidson is being courted by a man she dislikes, but her mother is forcing her into a betrothal. Bianca arranges with Matthew Hensley, a neighbour who owes her a favour, to pretend to be a suitor. An innocuous novella.

242pamelad
Jul 3, 2023, 9:04 pm

4. Steamless

Lord Fenton's Folly by Josi S. Kilpack

The hero and heroine first meet when she is 10 and he is 16 and come across one another again ten years later. The hero is very much changed: he is leading a dissipated life calculated to annoy his father, a despoiler of maids. Circumstance demands that the hero marry, and the heroine has loved him for years, despite hardly knowing him. When she knows him better, she is sadly disappointed, and they settle into a life of married misery until the illness of the hero's mother draws them together. That and God, because this is much too Christian for my comfort.

243christina_reads
Jul 4, 2023, 10:40 am

>242 pamelad: I also wasn't a big fan of Lord Fenton's Folly -- the hero and heroine seem to go from mean bickering to love pretty quickly, without much motivation for the switch.

244pamelad
Jul 7, 2023, 5:34 pm

I've expanded 2. What Price for this Heroine? to include more categories of damaged heroine and have renamed it 2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines Heroines escaping evil fathers and guardians and depraved suitors. Heroines left destitute by fathers and brothers who gambled away the family fortune. Heroines abandoned by dishonourable suitors. Heroines whose lives are blighted by past mistakes.

A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant

Both the heroine and the hero are damaged. Lydia is the mistress of a viscount, who bought her from a brothel. Will Blackspear cannot forgive himself for the death of a fellow-soldier in the battle of Waterloo. They meet over the gambling tables where Lydia, a talented mathematician, is trying to win enough money to escape prostitution, and Will is trying to make enough to support his comrade's widow.

This was dark, and for much of the book it was hard to imagine how the author would contrive a happy ending, but I trusted her and she delivered. I recommend Cecilia Grant.

245pamelad
Editado: Jul 7, 2023, 9:29 pm

4. Steamless and Almost Steamless.

Cecilia Grant's books are fairly steamy, not as anatomical as those of Stephanie Laurens, but steamy enough, so Nichole Van is a relief. Her books aren't as good as Grant's, but they're grammatical and readable, the characters are engaging, and all the sex scenes take place off-stage. You have to put up with a lot of Scottish dialect, but it's manageable.

Love Practically by Nichole Van

Twenty years ago, when Leah Penn-Leith was 18 and Fox Carnegie 19, they met at a house party. Leah never forgot him. She has spent the intervening twenty years bringing up her much younger brothers. Carnegie doesn't remember Leah, but she's been recommended to him as a potential wife. He needs a woman to manage his household and look after his much-loved five-year-old ward, Madeline. There is a dark secret about Madeline, and Fox is desperately worried that she will be removed from his care. A terrible betrayal and an almost fatal wound have left him an alcoholic. If anyone can fix Fox it's Leah, although she is struggling with Fox's lack of consideration and his insistence on a celibate marriage.

ETA Van's books are available on KindleUnlimited.

246pamelad
Jul 8, 2023, 1:07 am

4. Steamless and Almost Steamless.

Adjacent But Only Just by Nichole Van

The second book in The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir series.

Hero: Leah's brother Malcolm, a farmer. Strong, sad and silent.
Heroine: Viola, a famous author who is extremely shy and suffers from stress-induced asthma.
Other characters: a manipulative duke; Viola's father, a vicar who wants to be a bishop; Malcolm's brother Ethan, a famous poet.
Leah and Malcolm fall in love, but everyone wants her to marry Ethan.

This was barely interesting enough to finish. Too contrived (surely not!), too many cute animal names, too tidy.

247pamelad
Editado: Jul 12, 2023, 6:38 pm

9. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates .... Abductions, Harems, Highwaymen.....

The Cutthroat Countess by Minerva Spencer

This is the third book in the Wicked Women of Whitechapel series, and you need to have read the previous two books to have any chance of following what is happening at the start of this one. The heroine, Jo Brown, is the knife thrower, Blade, in a female circus. She has spent most of her life on the run, working as a spy for whoever will pay. The enigmatic, violent and ruthless Blade has been employed to protect Marianne, the boxing baroness from book one, and as the book starts she is in France, killing villains on her way to save Marianne. She is accompanied by her pet raven, Angus, and Elliott, also a spy, but a respectable one who went to Eton and is the youngest son of an earl. The story flips back and forward in time, but most of it takes place at the same time as the second book, The Dueling Duchess.

This book is less successful than The Dueling Duchess. The plot is confusing; there are too many characters, particularly at the beginning; in order to become a romantic heroine Jo had to undergo quite a personality change.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

248pamelad
Editado: Jul 27, 2023, 4:11 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls All these heros are survivors of a suicide squad. Most of them have PTSD and some of them have physical injuries.

How the Lady Was Won, The Highlander's Excellent Adventure, Sweet Rogue of Mine, Her Royal Payne by Shana Galen

Colonel Danvers recruited 30 men who weren't afraid to die in the quest to destroy Napoleon. Twelve survived and are attempting to resume their lives in England. All twelve, thirteen when you count Danvers himself, are damaged, some physically. some mentally and some both. But we know what they need: the love of a good woman!

These are books 7 - 10 of the Survivors series. The best one so far has been the first, Third Son's a Charm and the only one I didn't finish was the fifth, The Claiming of the Shrew (I'll probably try again. Sometimes I don't finish because I've read too many in a row.) Not too heavy, not too light. Too many graphic sex scenes, but they're hard to avoid in contemporary romantic fiction. A bit of humour. Most importantly, I can borrow them on Overdrive. A free book's a good book.

I haven't classified them because they've all merged into one.

249pamelad
Editado: Jul 27, 2023, 4:12 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls The hero isn't titled, but he's definitely damaged.

The Counterfeit Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath

Jus a quick comment before I return this to the library. Someone is waiting for it. This is the first book in a new series, The Chessmen: Masters of seduction. The hero is Bishop, who helps women obtain divorces by taking on the role of co-respondent. He's driven by the death of his mother, who was mistreated by Bishop's father. It's set in the Victorian era, not Regency, so a divorce no longer requires an act of parliament, but I doubt that divorce is as common as Heath makes out. The heroine is a private enquiry agent. Too many sex scenes, as you'd expect from the series title, and a paint-by-numbers hero make this a dull book.

5. Steamless and almost steamless.

The Devil of Dunmoor by Meggan Connors

Pros: almost steamless
Cons: unbelievable characters and plot.

250pamelad
Editado: Jul 27, 2023, 4:12 pm

5. Steamless and almost steamless.

Devil's Match by Anita Mills

I like steamless romances from the eighties, so was happy to spend $1.31 on this one. It was quite readable, but not memorable. Devil Danvers, a man with a terrible reputation, needs to find a bride in order to receive an inheritance. He settles on an impoverished young woman who is employed as a companion to his young cousin.

251pamelad
Jul 29, 2023, 3:26 am

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Dangerous Secrets by Caroline Warfield

This is set in the 1820's but in Italy, not England. Nora has travelled to Rome because her brother is dying and wants Nora to be the guardian of his small daughter, Isabella. Unfortunately, Isabella's dead mother belonged to a powerful family who also want Isabella. The hero, Jamie, is a bankrupt baron who is living under a false name and drinking himself into oblivion to forget his sorry past. He is recommended to Nora as a translator, becomes devoted to both Nora and Isabella and does all he can to help Nora gain guardianship of Isabella. There's much political intrigue and drama.

I liked this and will probably read another in the series. This book was free on Kindle. It's semi-steamless. Closed door, as we romance afficionados say.

252pamelad
Editado: Jul 30, 2023, 5:11 pm

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

The Claiming of the Shrew by Shana Galen

>248 pamelad: I've read the rest of the Survivors series and thought I'd started this one and rejected it, but it was unfamiliar, and I quite enjoyed it. Colonel Braden, the commander of a suicide squad assembled to destroy Napoleon, marries Catarina, a desperate young Portuguese woman, for chivalrous reasons. They lose contact until she seeks him out in London requesting an annulment. Their Catholic marriage was legal in Portugal but is not officially recognised in England and has not been consummated. Catarina, who has become a successful lacemaker, is being blackmailed by a Spanish businessman who wants to own her business. He demands that she get the annulment so she can marry his son. Braden has never forgotten Catarina, and would be happy to remain married, but he is concerned that he is too old for her.

Various other survivors of Braden's suicide squad pop in and out, and I actually remember some of them! Not all, because there are twelve books in this series and some heroes are more memorable than others.

Category? Tentatively putting it in Damaged and Desperate Heroines because Catarina is in danger from the evil Spanish businessman. But she's no fragile flower.

This whole series is available on KoboPlus. Wish I'd known! Much easier that fiddling around with Adobe digital Editions and waiting for them to become available at the library.

253pamelad
Ago 2, 2023, 4:03 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

A Marriage Made in Scandal by Elissa Braden

I read this one a while ago but forgot to record it. In the prologue a small boy is in fear of his mother. He grows into reserved and excessively rational adult, Danger lurks. I have forgotten everything else except that the plot was exceptionally ludicrous and that he was saved by a good woman.

254pamelad
Editado: Ago 2, 2023, 4:46 pm

4. Steamless and almost steamless.

These two are close enough to steamless because there are no graphic descriptions. Such a relief!

Midwinter Magic by Stella Riley

This longish novella is the last book in the Rockliffe series, and it's one long epilogue. The characters include the blind Rosalind and the Marquis of Amberley from The Parfit Knight, Rockliffe and Adeline from The Mesalliance, Adrian and Caroline from The Player, Sebastian and Cassie from The Wicked Cousin, Madeleine and Nicholas from Hazard, Julian and Arabella from Cadenza, and that's not all! I had to go back and read the book descriptions to remind myself who everyone was.

The book is one long epilogue in the tradition of Mary Balogh, with joyful Christmas celebrations, hordes of cute children, fond parents, pregnant wives, tidy romances, a goat and a "miracle". There's a tiny bit of plot. Fortunately, it was available on KoboPlus.

The Shadow Earl by Stella Riley was much better. It looks to be the first book in a new series, which will be very welcome.

Christian and Sophia were very much in love, but Sophia's father thought they were too young to marry so they became unofficially betrothed and Christian, Lord Hazelmere, left on a Grand Tour accompanied by his cousin Basil. After two years Christian was almost ready to return but he disappeared for another three years, and it was only due to the determined efforts of his friends that he was found and returned to England. He is a changed man, intent on revenge and unwilling to inflict himself on Sophie, who still loves him.

Characters from the Rockliffe and Brandon Brothers series lurk in the background and pop in from time to time to help out the plot, which involves Christian's wicked and stupid cousin Basil. I expect that Chrisitan's friends will all have their own stories, and I am looking forward to them.

255christina_reads
Ago 2, 2023, 5:29 pm

>254 pamelad: Still making my way through the Rockliffe series, but I'm glad to know there's more Stella Riley to look forward to!

256pamelad
Ago 7, 2023, 5:47 pm

I've found a copy of Lessons in French in the Open Library. Laura Kinsale's book is very expensive here and not available in any local libraries, so this is a lucky find. I've looked before in the Open Library, but their catalogue is a bit hit or miss.

Enjoying it. Kinsale is in a class above.

257pamelad
Editado: Ago 9, 2023, 5:41 pm

6. Good for a Laugh , or at least a smile or two. Authors who don't take themselves too seriously.

Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale

Lady Callista is twenty-seven and has been jilted three times, so she thinks she's too dull and ugly for anyone to marry and has resigned herself to spinsterhood. When she was seventeen she was in love with her neighbour Trev, the duc de Monceaux, but he left without warning. Now he's back, but if the law catches up with him he could be hanged.

This was light, humorous and frothy. Too long, with a meandering plot, but I enjoyed it.

My keyboard suddenly stopped, so I’m typing this on a tablet. Very tedious.

258pamelad
Ago 16, 2023, 11:49 pm

4. Steamless and almost steamless.

A Gentleman Ought to Know by Jane Ashford

The fourth book in The Duke's estates series, this is a romance between two nice people, Charlotte Deeping and Laurence, a Marquess. Laurence's parents were murdered when he was four, and he has been brought up by trustees. Charlotte loves an investigation, so she is determined to find Laurence's parents' murderer. She's very much attracted to Laurence and he to her, but Charlotte believes that men mislead women on purpose, so she tries to keep her distance. Charlotte's brothers are entertaining.

A pleasant read.

259RidgewayGirl
Ago 18, 2023, 12:43 pm

>257 pamelad: Kinsale hasn't published anything new in years. I hope she hasn't stopped writing.

260pamelad
Ago 20, 2023, 5:45 pm

>259 RidgewayGirl: It looks as though Lessons in French is Laura Kinsale's most recent book, so that's thirteen years. Doesn't look promising. I might even have to change eras and read her two medieval romances. Another favourite author who hasn't published for a while is Loretta Chase, but it's only been three years so there is still hope.

Sherry Thomas is another favourite, but she seems to have stopped writing historical romances to concentrate on historical crime.

261pamelad
Editado: Ago 20, 2023, 6:18 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch

A navy ship captain promises his dying lieutenant that he will look after the man's fiancee. The captain is indebted because the lieutenant saved his life.

I know why I bothered. I found this on Overdrive and looked up its LT rating, which is a very high 4.7. A short way in, being underwhelmed, I had another look and found its Christian fiction classification. It seems that readers of Christian fiction are very loyal and hand out high ratings for reasons other than literary merit. Not that I'm expecting great literature from an historical romance, but such a high rating should mean that it's top entertainment, something special. But no. The writing is stilted; here are glaring historical inaccuracies (e.g. the hero inherits an earldom through his mother); the characters all speak Contemporary American; there are orphans (but thankfully no kittens). I continued reading because I'd never read any Christian fiction and I'd wondered whether there would be a lot of talk about God or whether a book could get that classification just by being wholesome and free of sex scenes.

Much talk about God's will, which was invoked to fill a few plot holes. Not my cup of tea.

262pamelad
Ago 24, 2023, 5:50 pm

Two novellas by Meredith Duran. I'd abandoned her book, The Duke of Shadows, but not for bad writing. It was set during the Sepoy Rebellion and there was a lot of violence. These two, however, are frothy. Not steamless, but not at all graphic. The problem with novellas is that they're too short for much plot development. But I liked the characters and the writing, so Meredith Duran is worth another try.

5. Second Chances

Sweetest Regret by Meredith Duran

The heroine is the daughter of a manipulative diplomat who controls the career of the hero, who is rising rapidly through the diplomatic service. Two years ago, they fell in love, but both of them believe that they have been heartlessly abandoned. When they meet again, past misunderstandings initially keep them apart.

10. Everything Else

Your Wicked Heart by Meredith Duran

The heroine, a secretary, accepted a proposal so that she could leave her violent employer, but her betrothed has left her standing at the altar, penniless in Turkey. Her fiance was pretending to be a viscount, and now the real viscount has turned up in pursuit. He initially believes that the heroine was part of the con, so he kidnaps her in order to return her to England to be prosecuted.

263pamelad
Ago 29, 2023, 5:17 pm

Meredith Duran won a RITA for Fool Me twice so I looked for it and found that it's the second book in her Rules for the Reckless series (if you don't count the novella Your Wicked Heart) so I decided to start with the first book. The series is set in Victorian England.

5. Second Chances

That Scandalous Summer by Meredith Duran

Lord Michael de Gray is the younger brother of a duke who has fallen apart on finding that the dead wife he mourned had betrayed him viciously and often. The duke is determined that Michael marry a woman of sterling reputation and produce an heir. To avoid buckling under the duke's threats, Michael has escaped to a Cornish village where he is working as a doctor. There he comes across the notorious widow, Elizabeth Chudderley, passed out under a rose bush in his garden. The reputation of the beautiful Elizabeth belies her character: she's a kinder, far more responsible person that she seems. Both Michael and Elizabeth need money- she to support her estate and workers, he to continue running the hospital he set up with his brother's help and from which the duke has now withdrawn funding. There are many obstacles in the path to true love!

I liked That Scandalous Summer. Elizabeth and Michael are appealing; the writing flows; the plot keeps moving. Actually, the plot is ridiculous, but if that were a problem, I'd never read another historical romance.

I've added it to the Second Chances category, because after a first, loveless marriage it looks as though Elizabeth is going to miss out on love again as she marries for the money to support her estate.

264pamelad
Editado: Ago 30, 2023, 5:31 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran

The duke from The Scandalous Summer, Alistair de Grey, hasn't left his room for almost a year, since the death of his treacherous wife. She slept with his political enemies and passed them political secrets, and now he knows their names and is plotting revenge. He has kept dossiers on his political enemies, including Lord Bertram, his dead wife's ex-lover and the man whose henchman has attempted to murder the heroine, Olivia. She applies for a job as a parlour maid at the duke's townhouse so that she can steal the dossier.

I read this because it won the 2015 RITA Award, and quite liked it. The problem is Alistair de Grey, whose character vacillates erratically to meet the demands of the plot. I'd read the rest of this series if I could find free copies, but they're not in any of the libraries I belong to.

265pamelad
Editado: Set 4, 2023, 5:43 pm

9. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates .... Abductions, Harems, Highwaymen.....

Lady Be Good by Meredith Duran

I wasn't going to buy any more books in this series but was in need of a competent historical romance, so I did. Then I followed up with the next one, Luck Be a Lady, which I am currently reading, but that could be the last because after book 4 they become more expensive.

The hero is a war hero, Kit Palmerston, who is being pursued by an evil Russian general who is killing everyone Kit loves. His father and older brother have already been murdered, and Kit is now the earl (or he could be a viscount. Not a duke, for a change.) Kit's pursuit of the Russian leads him to an auction house where he meets Lily, who has escaped her criminal upbringing to become Lilah, the respectable auction house hostess. Two other important characters are Catherine Eversleigh, the beautiful ice-queen who is part-owner of the auction house, and Nick O'Shea, Lily's uncle, who has blackmailed Lily into stealing some papers.

Lots of plot, with characters who deserve a happy ending. Nothing outstanding, but I enjoyed it. I'm off to find Frank Sinatra singing these songs on Spotify.

3. Must We? Marriages of Convenience

Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran

Catherine Eversleigh, the beautiful ice-queen who owns Everleigh's Auction Rooms with her brother Peter, needs a husband so that she can take charge of the business and prevent her brother from embezzling the profits. For reasons that don't bear scrutiny she contracts a secret marriage with Nick O'Shea, the criminal uncle of Lily from Lady Be Good, who is a much better man than he seems (of course!). The evil Peter schemes to defeat Catherine's plans and spirits her away to an asylum, from which Nick saves her. Peter is driven to evil because he has political ambitions, a motive that doesn't make a lotu of sense.

This is another competently written historical romance, but its plot is ho-hum and the characters have to undergo personality changes to make it work.

266pamelad
Set 4, 2023, 11:12 pm

7. Why did I Bother?

Whisper of Scandal by Nicola Cornick

I bothered because the author is British and has written loads of historical romances, so If I'd liked her writing she would have been a real find. Unfortunately, I thought this book would never end. It started promisingly but ran out of energy. Too much talking. Too much repetition.

The heroine is the widow of an explorer who treated her badly. His best friend, also an explorer, mistrusts her but falls in love with her. They set off to the Arctic Circle together to find the illegitimate daughter of the dead explorer, because the heroine thinks she's barren and is desperate for a child. For the sake of increasing the number of pages, they take with them the heroine's so-called friend. There can be no other reason, because she's absolutely awful.

267pamelad
Set 7, 2023, 2:39 am

4. Steamless

Mrs McVinnie's London Season by Carla Kelly

I read this because it was free on KoboPlus and I wanted something light to break up the brutality of the book I just read for the Africa GeoCAT. It's definitely light. Mrs McVinnie, who arrives at the London house of a grumpy sea captain, manages to sort out the captain, his nasty niece, his sad nephew, a mute little girl and Beau Brummell! Reminded me of Mary Poppins.

268pamelad
Set 8, 2023, 6:12 pm

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

The Wild Marquis by Miranda Neville

The Marquis of Chase, Cain to his friends, was banished from home at the age of sixteen by his mad, puritanical father who accused him of a dreadful crime. Since then, he has become a notorious rake. The Juliana, a bookshop proprietor and bibliophile, meets Cain when he is searching for a rare and valuable book, once owned by his family, which is about to come up for auction.

The plot involves Juliana's mysterious parentage, the murder of her husband and Cain's attempts to look after his younger sister, from whom he has been refused contact since he left home eight years ago.

I enjoyed this. There's enough going on to hold my attention (just a romance isn't enough), it's well-written (the author was brought up in England before moving to the US as an adult, so the language is neutral English), and I liked the characters. There are a couple of sex scenes, but they're short and not graphically anatomical.

I'm now reading the next in the Burgundy Club series, The Dangerous Viscount. The Burgundy Club is for book collectors, and the series is available on KoboPlus.

269pamelad
Editado: Set 9, 2023, 5:28 pm

Two more from The Burgundy Club series by Miranda Neville

3. Must We? Marriages of Convenience

The Dangerous Viscount by Miranda Neville

Sebastian Iverley had no time for women until he met the young widow, Lady Diana Fanshawe, but Diana has her eye on Sebastian's cousin, the Marquis of Blakeney, who is heir to the Dule of Hampton. As children, Blakeney and his sisters used to tease and humiliate Sebastian, so he expects the worst of women and when Diana lets him down, he is determined to pay her back.

Confessions From an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville

Diana's younger sister, Miranda, is unintentionally compromised by the drunken Blakeney, so they have to wed. The marriage starts off badly, and Blakeney has a big secret that will continue to keep the pair at a distance, unless he can trust her enough to let her help him.

I like both of these. All the main characters behave badly, but they redeem themselves in the end.

270pamelad
Editado: Set 10, 2023, 5:13 pm

9. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates .... Abductions, Harems, Highwaymen.....

The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville

The third book in the Burgundy Club series begins with the kidnapping of Celia Seaton, an orphaned governess who is, unknowingly, in possession of something a lot of people want. On escaping from the hut in which she has been imprisoned she discovers the unconscious Tarquin Compton, a famed dandy with great influence over the ton. He has lost his memory, and Celia, who has suffered in the past from his waspish tongue, convinces him that he is Terence Fish, her betrothed.

I liked this one because the characters don't take themselves too seriously. Too many sex scenes, but you can tell that from the title, and they're not super-graphic.

271pamelad
Editado: Set 23, 2023, 5:17 pm

5. Second Chances

The Second Seduction of a Lady by Miranda Neville

Prequel to The Wild Quartet series. A novella, so there's not much to it. The hero and heroine met five years ago and fell in love, but when the heroine found out that the initial meeting was the result of a bet, she felt she had been betrayed.

The Importance of Being Wicked, The Ruin of a Rogue, Lady Windermere's Lover and The Duke of Dark Desires by Miranda Neville

The Wild Quartet are four young men who met at Oxford. The wildest was Robert Townsend, who eloped with Caro in the prequel. He died young, after gambling away a fortune, leaving Caro with enormous debts.

5. Second Chances

The Importance of Being Wicked

The first book is about Caro and her romance with the man she calls Lord Stuffy, a proper and responsible man who is wildly attracted to the unconventional Caro.

10. Everything Else

The Ruin of a Rogue

The second book features Caro's cousin Ann, an heiress, and Marcus, son of a conman. Marcus plans to con Ann into marriage or, failing that, to get paid to back off by her guardians, but he falls in love with her.

5. Second Chances

Lady Windermere's Lover

Lady Windermere, of the third book, has been deserted by her husband, who married her to get back the estate he lost in a card game. He has spent five years as a diplomat in Persia and has now returned to London. He finds that his wife has used to intervening years to acquire taste, looks and charm, and is apparently having an affair with his ex-friend, the duke of the fourth book

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

The Duke of Dark Desires

The Duke of the fourth book is Julian Fortescue, once an art dealer who managed to acquire the famous Falleron collection. The whole Falleron family was thought to have died during the French Revolution, but the oldest daughter survived and is seeking revenge.

I quite liked the series. These books were more lust-driven than The Burgundy Club series, which is a negative, but they're free on KoboPlus.

272pamelad
Editado: Set 23, 2023, 5:07 pm

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

Never Resist Temptation by Miranda Neville

Jacobin is the loathed niece of a baron, Lord Candover, who has wagered her in a card game which he has just lost to Anthony Storrington, an earl. She escapes with the help of her uncle's pastry cook and finds work, disguised as a man, as a pastry cook for the Regent. When there is lots of food left over from a state dinner the kitchen staff sell it to the servants of the wealthy, which is how Jacobin's uncle ends up being poisoned and she accused of attempted murder. But Storrington has offered her a job, not knowing that she is a woman, so she takes him up on it.

There's a complicated plot involving the death of Storrington's mother, Jacobin's dead parents, Lord Candover and his heir, and a Bow Street runner. Storrington is quite a flawed hero, but he comes to his senses eventually.

I like Neville's writing, which is grammatical and free from anachronisms and contemporary Americanisms (she was brought up in England and moved to the US as an adult). She includes interesting historical details, which in this book are about the famous French chef, Careme. There are too many sex scenes.

Never Resist Temptation is available as a 14-day loan from the Open Library.

273pamelad
Editado: Set 23, 2023, 5:06 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

Thief of Dreams by Mary Balogh

Lady Cassandra Havelock is a countess in her own right (for the sake of the plot, because it doesn't make sense otherwise). Her father died a year ago and it's her twenty-first birthday, so she is now free of her guardians and has control of the estate. In the evening there will be a ball. A young man she has never met, Nigel Wetherby, Viscount Wroxley, arrives and introduces himself as a friend of her father, so Cassandra invites him to stay. Over the course of a few days she falls in love, despite knowing nothing about Wroxley who harbours a deep, dark secret.

I liked this, although it's far too long. Balogh is so repetitive! The book could lose 100 pages and be better for it.

This was a Kindle bargain. A Balogh for $1.99 is a very good deal.

274christina_reads
Set 21, 2023, 9:51 am

>273 pamelad: Hmm, I'm a Balogh fan, but this doesn't sound like one of her better books. I find I'm more drawn to her earlier novels, which also tend to be shorter!

275pamelad
Set 21, 2023, 4:44 pm

>274 christina_reads: It's from 1998. Perhaps that's the start of her bloat period. I agree that shorter is better and sometimes skip the middle section of historical romances to avoid the miscommunications and misunderstandings that keep the hero and heroine apart. In Thief of Dreams the hero is keeping secrets to protect the heroine and making their problems worse. But I've read a lot, lot worse!

276pamelad
Editado: Set 23, 2023, 5:03 pm

5. Second Chances

Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie

This is the second book in a row where the hero has managed to survive unspeakable horrors and return to England. Like Nigel in Thief of Dreams, Thomas bears both mental and physical scars and wakes in the night screaming.

Lady Rose Rutherford is standing at the altar with the Duke of Everingham, a man whom she has agreed to marry because he wants a business-like arrangement and her heart is dead, when a wild, dishevelled man races into the church and stops the wedding. He's her secret husband, reported dead four years ago. Once Rose's family has accepted the validity of the marriage, they campaign for an annulment, to which the noble and self-sacrificing Thomas would agree if it were not for Rose who is determined to seek happiness with her miraculously restored husband. But someone wants them dead!

I enjoyed this, the third book in the Marriage of Convenience series. I'd already read the others but had forgotten to record the fourth.

277pamelad
Set 23, 2023, 5:02 pm

The Perfect Waltz by Anne Gracie

The wealthy mill-owner, Sebastian, lost his younger sisters when he was fourteen and now, ten years later, has managed to find them again. But Cassie, the fourteen-year-old carries a knife and Dorie, the twelve-year-old does not talk. Sebastian is determined to find a wife who will help his sisters and has settled on the austere and worthy Lady Elinore whose life is devoted to charitable works. Elinore, who is six years older than Sebastian, doesn't really want a husband but needs to marry due to the terms of her father's will. Both Elinore and Sebastian believe that a loveless marriage is their only alternative, until Sebastian meets Hope Merridew, but he cannot admit his love for Hope because he is marrying for his sisters' benefit and believes that Elinore is the better choice.

This is the second book in the Merridew Sisters series. I enjoyed most of it, but the last few chapters were truly nauseating, like an interminable Mary Balogh epilogue.

I've been too slack to think about categories, so will go back and assign some now.

278pamelad
Editado: Set 28, 2023, 5:16 pm

The last two books in the Rules for the Reckless series.

A Lady's Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran

An heiress is kept virtually imprisoned by her uncle and guardian, who is relying on her fortune to finance his political career so wants her to marry his son. His political crony, a ruthless, ambitious man, warns her and presents her with an opportunity for escape. He is beaten and left close to death by his enemies and loses his memory, so he believes the heroine when she tells him they are married. Losing his memory has improved his character no end!

The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran

The heroine is a Scottish countess whose estates are entailed on her, so tehy don't come to her husband when she marries. She wants an heir, but doesn't want her freedom curtailed, so she comes to an arrangement with the hero, who needs money to fix his own estates, but also wants to keep his freedom. The two of them are getting along very nicely and falling in love, but he disappears on his wedding night. He has been kidnapped and sent to New South Wales as a convict, but his new wife thinks he has deserted her.

I enjoyed both of these. Too steamy, and the plots are far-fetched, but I liked the characters and the writing.

279pamelad
Editado: Set 29, 2023, 5:02 pm

4. Steamless

The Mysterious Mr. Oliver by Emma Melbourne

I enjoyed Miss Fleming Falls in Love so was pleased to find the next book in the series. Amelia Fleming is married to the Earl of Langley, who has employed the Mr. Oliver as a land agent. The heroine is Amelia Fleming's sister, Isabella, who is beautiful but not as interesting as her sister. Not much happens, but some of the minor characters, particularly Langley's younger brother, are amusing. The second book lacks the verve of the first but is a pleasant, undramatic read.

280pamelad
Set 30, 2023, 4:50 pm

Two abandoned books.

The Perfect stranger by Anne Gracie

I'm half-way through this but too bored to be bothered because the characters don't interest me. It's a library loan and someone else wants it, so I'm giving up on it.

Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh

The second book in the Westcott series. Perhaps this is just a dud series? I gave the first book 2 stars, the third 2.5 and the eighth, which I've just read, 2.5. Anyway, I don't care about the hero and heroine and apparently they end up with nine children, six of them adopted, which is just excessive. I'm finding these later Balogh books preachy, sentimental and repetitive.

281pamelad
Editado: Out 1, 2023, 6:02 am

5. Second Chances

Someone to Cherish by Mary Balogh

When Humphrey Westcott, Earl of Riverdale, died, his wife and children discovered that he was a bigamist. His legitimate daughter, who spent her life in an orphanage, inherited his wealth, and a cousin inherited the title. The earl's three other children suddenly became bastards, and his wife reverted to her maiden name. Over the course of the series (I've read three and abandoned one), we find that the illegitimate Westcotts and their mother are better off, and much happier, than they would have been had they remained in the privileged positions to which they had been brought up.

Henry Westcott, who'd been brought up to become an earl, became a soldier and almost died in a convalescent home in France where he had spent two years receiving medical treatment that made his condition worse, before being rescued by his cousin and brother-in-law. Back in England it took years for him to regain his health and now he is living a contented but bland life on a family estate. His legitimate half-sister wants to give the estate to him, but pride makes him refuse.

Lydia Tavernor is the widow of a vicar who sacrificed his life rescuing a small boy from a river. Her husband was a charismatic man whose word was law, so she learned to efface herself. Now out of mourning, Lydia is determined never to marry again, but she is lonely. So is Harry, but they live in a small village, so an affair would be a mistake.

Reading this was like wading through treacle. All the Westcotts, legitimate and illegitimate, together with their millions of children, make an appearance. Everyone has Harry's best interests at heart. Lydia's loving but misguided father and brothers also appear. This was utter slush, and extremely repetitive, so you can imagine what the one I abandoned was like!

282christina_reads
Set 30, 2023, 10:10 pm

>281 pamelad: I read a couple of the Westcott series (#1 and #3, I think) and decided that was enough for me. And I'm seeing the same issues you mention in her current Ravenswood series. I am really over the giant families who keep appearing, with more and more children, in each installment of the series. Too many people to keep track of!

283pamelad
Editado: Out 1, 2023, 5:28 pm

>282 christina_reads: Agreed. I think Mary Balogh has become too preachy in her old age. I'd like more humour and less earnest sentimentality.

10. Everything Else

The Rake's Daughter by Anne Gracie

The evil father of Clarissa and Isabel dies, appointing Leo, Lord Salcott, as Clarissa's guardian. Isabel is illegitimate and her father hated her, but ever since they met as children, Clarissa has refused to be separated from her. Leo has quite the wrong idea about Isabel because her vicious father slandered her in a deathbed letter.

Not much happens. Will Leo, who is massively attracted to the beautiful Isabel, overcome his doubts and the stigma of her illegitimacy?

A few of the characters from the Chance Sisters series make an appearance.

284pamelad
Editado: Out 2, 2023, 4:22 pm

5. Second Chances

The Scoundrel's Daughter by Anne Gracie

This is the first book in the Brides of Bellaire Gardens series, of which The Rake's Daughter was the second. I enjoyed this one a lot more because the two heroines were much more interesting and appealing and I didn't like the guardian/ward trope of The Rake's Daughter. There are two romances in this book and one is a second-chance for a widow and a widower. Some of Gracie's books are bland and dull, but this one was livelier, with humour.

285pamelad
Out 7, 2023, 4:47 pm

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran

A mess of a book. Melodrama about not much. A plot that doesn't make sense. Too much steam. Vocabulary errors e.g. enervated instead of energised.

286pamelad
Out 9, 2023, 3:32 pm

5. Second Chances

I Kissed a Rogue by Shana Galen

The heroine is a duke's daughter. She used to be a terrible person but caring for her dying mother changed her. The hero is the second son of an earl, and years ago he fell in love with the heroine, but she treated him so badly that he loathes her. He's a detective, so when the heroine is kidnapped the Duke asks him for help.

I enjoyed Galen's Survivors series, but every other book of hers that I've read has been rubbish, including this one. Lots of steam, farcical plot, unbelievable characters. The hero is Sir Perfect, so he's very annoying.

287pamelad
Editado: Out 11, 2023, 1:20 am

3. Must We? Marriages of Convenience

After Sir Perfect in >286 pamelad: I wasn't looking for a Miss Perfect, but I found one in Jane Ashford's Blame It on the Earl, which is the 3rd book in The Duke's Estates series. The hero falls down a cliff, inadvertently taking the heroine with him. He's unconscious so she saves his life by dragging him into a cave away from the incoming tide. They're trapped together overnight, so he proposes marriage, against his parents' wishes. They don't want him to marry a nobody and have been on the lookout for a duke's daughter with a big dowry. The hero and heroine marry anyway, and would have every chance of being happy together if it weren't for the hero's parents, who are trying to split them up. The hero is a bit useless because he's not used to standing up for himself, but fortunately the heroine is, as I mentioned, just perfect.

I wasn't keen on Blame It on the Earl because the hero and heroine were too wet, and the hero's mother was ridiculously awful. The next book in the series suited me better. An advantage is that it's close to steamless - Ashford puts her couples in a room together and leaves them to it.

9. Adventures, Spies, Criminals, Pirates...

The Duke's Best Friend by Jane Ashford

The heroine, Kate, is at a loose end since her grandfather died. He was a respected diplomat whom she accompanied to diplomatic functions and even on investigations. She's continuing her investigations in disguise, and sneaking into functions, but she's no longer welcome. She meets the hero, Harry, an inexperienced diplomat, at a function she wasn't invited to and persuades him to accept her help with contacts and information in return for giving her access to her old diplomatic haunts. Harry and Kate get caught up in a dangerous plot.

I liked this one. A few of the characters from A Gentleman Ought to Know, number 4 in the series, which I also enjoyed, made an appearance.

288pamelad
Editado: Out 13, 2023, 4:34 pm

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

The Devil Earl by Deborah Simmons

Prudence Lancaster writes Gothic novels. Sebastian Ravenscar is the quintessential Gothic hero: tall, dark, commanding, a duelling scar and a reputation as a murderer. He is the owner of a Gothic mansion near the cottage where Prudence lives with her beautiful, self-centred younger sister, Phoebe.

A light, humorous read. Prudence is an admirable heroine.

I tried a few others by Deborah Simmons, but found the the heroes to be revolting sleazebags, so gave up a few pages in. A lot of Simmons books are available on KoboPlus, so I'll test out some others.

289pamelad
Editado: Out 14, 2023, 6:12 pm

I've started a few more books by Deborah Simmons, but none of them held my attention. I could predict the tired old plot, or the hero kept undressing women in his imagination, or the book started with a lot of irrelevant waffle. Perhaps The Devil Earl is her best.

3. Must We? Marriages of Convenience.

The Laird's Bride by Anne Gracie

A pleasant, innocuous novella that was free on KoboPlus. It's Gracie's only Scottish book, and expansion of an earlier short story. The young laird vows to marry the first eligible woman he sees, who turns out to be a mud-covered girl who is minding her grandfather's sheep.

290pamelad
Out 15, 2023, 1:34 am

Abandoned The Charmer by Madeline Hunter. A woman has inherited her father’s dukedom! Plus I’m finding the relationship between the duchess and the hero very iffy.

291pamelad
Out 23, 2023, 4:00 pm

The Haversham Family Trilogy by Alissa Johnson, available on Kindle Unlimited: Nearly a Lady, An Unexpected Gentleman and Practically Wicked. I enjoyed her Thief Takers series, but abandoned Tempting Fate, which is the second book in her Providence series. I decided to give her another try and enjoyed all three books. The third one is the weakest because it's about a courtesan's daughter whose mother behaves very strangely for the sake of the plot, but it's quite readable. Each has humour, an appealing hero and heroine, a bit of adventure and a villain. The steam level is manageable: not a lot and not much detail.

292pamelad
Editado: Out 23, 2023, 4:20 pm

Before the Haversham Family trilogy I abandoned three books. I'm recording unfinished books so that I don't start them again by mistake, which I have done with freebies, Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus.

The Charmer by Madeline Hunter contained huge historical inaccuracies and the hero abducted the heroine for reasons of state because she's a duchess and the government needs her. I could see that he would redeem himself later in the book but was prepared to forgive neither him nor an author who didn't understand the rules of primogeniture.

An Affair of the Heart by Joan Smith. I chose this because I knew it would be steamless, but it was missing everything else as well. I read more than half and gave up because I was bored and didn't care what happened to anyone.

My Steadfast Heart by Jo Goodman was violent and sordid.

Touchstones unreliable. Disappearing at random.

293pamelad
Editado: Out 26, 2023, 12:40 am

4. Steamless

Naomi and the Purloined Journal by Alicia Cameron

I've read all three of Cameron's historical romance series, which are available on Kindle Unlimited, so was pleased to see that she'd started a new one, The Wild Marchmonts. The energetic, wealthy branch of the Marchmont family moves in with the effete, debt-ridden branch. Eliott, third and youngest son of the effete spendthrift branch, is called the black sheep because of his rectitude, which makes him unlike his two brothers, the earl and his heir. He's fascinated by his distant cousins, and envious of their warmth and affection. When he discovers the journal belonging to Naomi, the eldest daughter of the wild Marchmonts, to whom he is already attracted, he can't resist reading it.

I enjoyed this, despite some grammatical and vocabulary errors, and a few too many quotes from the journal. It's light and humorous and I liked Elliot and Naomi. There are lots of Marchmonts deserving of romance - Elliot's two sisters, the three oldest wild Marchmont sisters (the younger two are only eight and twelve) and the wild Marchmont brother - so there's potential for this to be a long series.

No touchstone, so I'll add the book to LT and return.

294pamelad
Out 26, 2023, 12:53 am

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

Phoebe by Minerva Spencer

Phoebe has too much character to be desperate, but she's on the periphery of this category because she sacrifices herself to marry Paul, a rude and ugly man who has made a fortune in trade. Phoebe's father, an earl, spends every penny on himself, leaving his wife, son and four daughters almost destitute. Paul turns out to have a heart of gold, of course.

There's too much sex in this book to leave room for much else, so if you skate over those bits, it's a quick read.

295pamelad
Out 27, 2023, 3:49 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh

I saw this one on Christina's thread, so had a look for it in the Internet Archive. It's nice and short, so I read it straight away. I was keen for the hero and heroine to overcome their differences and get together, so kept reading despite the book being a bit preachy and gooey. He's a libertine with such a shocking reputation that he's cut by many members of the ton. She's a respectable widow who is about to settle for marriage with a viscount who is not as good as he seems. One night in the Vauxhall Gardens, a storm traps the hero and heroine together in a pavilion. She's so afraid of thunderstorms that she seduces him, and they go for it on a table, very successfully. She dislikes him because of his reputation but is drawn to him all the same.

296pamelad
Out 27, 2023, 3:59 pm

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

Ruined by a Rake by Erin Knightley

He's not really a rake. He's the step-cousin of the heroine, two years younger than she is and on leave from two years overseas in the army. Now that her mother has died, her evil uncle, the earl, is trying to force her to marry a political crony who is old and ugly with bad breath. The author was recommended for her humour, but the characters speak and act like contemporary Americans, so the humour is incongruous.

This novella is available in KoboPlus.

297christina_reads
Out 27, 2023, 5:45 pm

>295 pamelad: I've found that I tend to enjoy Balogh's shorter books over her longer ones. More focus on the central couple, fewer cameos by happy couples from previous books!

298pamelad
Out 28, 2023, 4:17 pm

>297 christina_reads: I read another from the same series, below, and enjoyed it more. More humour, and Mary's lesson wasn't quite as heavy-handed. She does like to preach! Nice and short.

5. Second Chances

A Counterfeit Betrothal by Mary Balogh

Sophia's parents, Olivia and Marcus, have been estranged for fourteen years, so in an effort to force them to spend time together she enters into a fake engagement with her old friend Francis. Francis and Sophia are an entertaining pair - their light-hearted bickering is amusing. Olivia and Marcus are annoying, because there really is no need for them to have made themselves so miserable, but I wanted to see them get back together, so I forgave them.

299christina_reads
Out 30, 2023, 11:14 am

>298 pamelad: See, I was a bit disappointed by A Counterfeit Betrothal -- I wanted much more of Francis & Sophia and much less of Olivia and Marcus!

300pamelad
Nov 1, 2023, 4:04 pm

>299 christina_reads: Yes, and the Olivia and Marcus romance came with Mary's lessons on how to manage your marriage, which I could have done without. But I didn't much like the main characters in The Notorious Rake and dislike I have realised the error of my ways- let me hug you endings. Bah! Humbug! But Mary Balogh is relatively mild: you can't beat Mary Jo Putney for preachiness.

7. Why did I Bother?

What a Lady Needs for Christmas by Grace Burrowes

So many things to dislike! It's 386 pages long, which I should have checked before I started. There's a gathering of the main characters from all the other books in the MacGregor series, which I haven't read. Hordes of uxorious husbands have long, pointless, arch conversations about family life. There are cute little children and small furry animals. There are plot threads that go nowhere and make no sense. I liked the hero, a self-made man widowed with two children, but the heroine behaved like an idiot.

301pamelad
Nov 9, 2023, 3:18 pm

4. Steamless

Romance Me, Viscount by Kate Archer

Beatrice Bennington is the eldest of the Earl of Westmont's five daughters. after the death of their mother the girls have been brought up by a distant cousin, Miss Eloise Mayton, who is dedicated to romance. Beatrice has strong views about what she wants in a husband, and her old friend and neighbour, Viscount Van Doren, meets none of her requirements. He tries to quell Beatrice's unrealistic aspirations with advice and criticism and has managed to annoy all the Bennington sisters as well as Miss Mayton.

I enjoyed this Kindle Unlimited book. The Bennington's are amusing; it's light-hearted; all the characters are likeable. But it becomes a bit too repetitive about two-thirds of the way through and would have benefited by losing fifty pages.

I'm going to try the next book in the A Very Fine Muddle series: Be Daring, Duke.

302pamelad
Editado: Nov 11, 2023, 3:11 pm

I tested a few more of Kate Archer's books, including the next two in the A Very Fine Muddle series. The first a one-trick pony with the unrealistic romantic aspirations of the sisters and the tall tales of Miss Mayton becoming tiresome rather than amusing. I started a couple from her other series, but ran into grammatical and vocabulary errors and lots of waffle. I wish the heroines of these books would stop reflecting lengthily and repetitively about not much. But I continue to perform a public service and search for diamonds amongst the dross.

303pamelad
Editado: Nov 11, 2023, 3:19 pm

A Christmas Dance by Alissa Johnson

A pleasant novella. Johnson is a good find on Kindle Unlimited, and I have enjoyed two of her series: Thief Takers; Haverston Family. I haven't been able to get into the Providence series, but will probably try another book, in case. I like her writing style.

304pamelad
Nov 14, 2023, 7:01 pm

4. Steamless

Return to Satterthwaite Court by Mimi Matthews

Charles Heywood and Katherine Beresford run into one another in the street when Charles is pursuing a stray dog that is in danger of being crushed beneath a carriage. Katherine is so taken with Charles that she manages to hunt him down, despite not knowing his name. The two of them become involved in a mystery that involves Charles's mother and Katherine's unwanted suitor.

A pleasant read. Charles's mother is the heroine of The Work of Art, the first book in the series, which is free on Kindle.

305pamelad
Nov 18, 2023, 3:23 pm

4. Steamless

The Honorable Marksley by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

It's time for Ferguson's books to be re-published. I read this one in the Open Library and borrowed Lord Sidley's Last Season with an inter-library loan, but there are three other Regencys I'd like to read and they're not available.

Richard Marksley's cousin Reginald, heir to a Viscountcy, compromises Hallie Ashton using Richard's name. It's a tiny compromise that wouldn't have been a problem except that Hallie's cousin makes a fuss in the hope that she can line up a husband for Allie, an orphan who lives with her cousin and uncle. The uncle lands on Reginald's doorstep, family in tow, demanding that Richard marry his niece, and Reginald's doting mother leaves Richard little option but to fake an engagement.

The complication is that Richard publishes a literary journal to which Hallie submits poems under a false name. Her determination to keep her writing secret misleads Richard.

Nothing special, but a pleasant read. Not too long!

306pamelad
Nov 19, 2023, 1:15 am

4. Steamless

Two vintage romances from the Open Library, both first published in the seventies.

A Speaking Likeness by Sheila Bishop and No Hint of Scandal by Sheila Bishop

I enjoyed both of these atypical Regency romances. We're not hanging about with the ton for a change, and neither heroine is connected to the aristocracy.

In A Speaking Likeness a young widow with a small daughter, who is wondering how much longer she can afford to pay the rent, takes in a desperate young girl who is about to give birth to a baby out of wedlock. Friends of the girl, who has given a false name, arrange for the widow to adopt the baby, a boy. She accepts because she is already devoted to the child and because the arrangement will enable her to give her daughter a comfortable life. Her only contact with the baby's benefactors is through lawyers, including the kindly Mr Wood. I liked this book because the characters are well-meaning people who've been a bit battered by life and haven't always done the right thing.

Same with No Hint of Scandal: flawed, well-meaning people who make mistakes. There are two heroines: Julia, a young woman with a mysterious past who moves into a cottage owned by Richard, a baronet; and Harriet, a kind-hearted girl, gauche and ungainly, who is in love with Richard's younger brother, Verney, who has led her on but has no intention of marrying her. There's a third brother, a rector, whose interfering wife tries to cause trouble between Julia and Richard.

Both books were less than 200 pages and pleasingly astringent. It's not just the sex scenes I skip in recently written historical romances, it's the chapters of sentimental gush too. Many of the romances I've read recently could lose 100 pages and be much improved.

307JayneCM
Nov 19, 2023, 7:08 am

>306 pamelad: I so agree with your last comment. I very much appreciate your 'steamless' category as not all book blurbs or reviews will tell you whether this is a component of the book and it is not something I want to read.

308pamelad
Nov 19, 2023, 3:29 pm

>307 JayneCM: Steamless has turned out to be my biggest category, and lots of the books in it are oldies. Not only are they short and steamless, but the grammar and vocabulary are more likely to be correct.

309pamelad
Editado: Nov 19, 2023, 3:41 pm

4. Steamless

A Well-Matched Pair by Sheila Bishop

This one has received a low rating on LT, despite being just as well-written as Bishop's other books. I'd guess that the reasons are: a central theme of infidelity; a confusion of potential heroes, one of whom is a real piece of work; a heroine who becomes less appealing as the book goes on. For a romance novel, these people might be too flawed. But they're quite complex, and the book is a departure from the usual formula.

310pamelad
Editado: Nov 20, 2023, 3:24 pm

4. Steamless

Lucasta by Sheila Bishop

Part romance, part mystery, part Gothic. Nell Pearce is dazzled by her beautiful friend Lucasta, and by the romance between Lucasta and the handsome but penniless soldier, Frederick. Nell herself is secretly enamoured of Lucasta's cousin Alexander, so Nell's diary is full of her observations of the three. Years later, the diary sheds light on an unexpected death. Who was the real Lucasta?

This didn't quite work, but it was an engaging enough read.

I should really check for typos before I press Save. This short review had so many that it didn't make sense.

311pamelad
Nov 21, 2023, 2:47 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

To Love a Dark Lord by Anne Stuart

Hard to decide the classification -damaged hero or desperate heroine? The hero is a bored and depraved Irish Earl, with a tragic past. He is determined never to care about another person, every, but the heroine slips past his defences. The heroine is the heiress to a huge fortune amassed by her manufacturer father, but she sees none of the money, which is controlled by her wicked uncle and religious fanatic cousin. The hero and heroine meet when she has just killed her uncle, who was trying to rape her. She reminds him of a young woman whose death haunts him because he didn't take her seriously and didn't help her.

There's a secondary romance as well. An upstanding young man falls in love with an aristocratic young woman who has slept with most of the ton. He is determined to save her.

Normally I don't like reading about depraved people, but the villains are so wicked you can't take them seriously.. It all seems a bit tongue in cheek, the depravity isn't dwelt on, and the writing is lively, interesting and grammatical, so I enjoyed the book.

This one is Georgian.

312pamelad
Nov 22, 2023, 3:37 pm

8. Reformed Rakes Make the Best Husbands

The Irish Rake by Emma Lange

Emma Lange popped up in an LT recommendation, so I read this one from the Open Library. Not much happens. Hero and heroine exchange a glance across an inn yard. He's an Irish earl, and she's the niece of an earl, living with her devoted uncle and aunt since her parents died in India. The Irish rake turns out to be a neighbour, but he tries to avoid the heroine because he doesn't want to marry. Circumstances throw them together.

The writing was OK, but this was run-of-the-mill. It's almost steamless, definitely closed-door.

313pamelad
Nov 23, 2023, 12:23 am

4. Steamless

The Jewels of Halstead Manor by Kasey Stockton

It started well, with the heroine, Giulia, saving the life of the hero, Nick, who has been shot. She's on her way to the house of her uncle, an earl, believing that he's sent her an invitation. Nick, a distant cousin, is her uncle's heir. Giulia's uncle, who was estranged from his brother, Guilia's father, doesn't want her in his house, but accepts her under sufferance because she's a skilled nurse who can nurse Nick back to health.

The plot is a dog's breakfast, and the characters have to undergo personality changes to fit it. There's a missing jewelled key, a plethora of secret passages, a locked room in a tower, and a wicked Italian woman. The characters speak contemporary American cliche, with the local rustics sounding like the Beverley Hillbillies.

The book showed promise, but it's a mess. "You look stunning," he said, his low voice washing over her like a low-burning fire. Washing like a fire? Two lows in one short sentence? Where's the editor?

314pamelad
Nov 24, 2023, 2:54 pm

Grace: The Shackleford Sisters and Temperance: The Shackleford Sisters by Beverley Watts

I abandoned Grace at 57% completed because it was going nowhere, but thought the second book in the Shackleford Sisters series might be better, so I gave it a go. Just abandoned it at 59%. There's just too much talk of groins, and I can't imagine that anything interesting is going to happen, unless you count the eventual coupling.

315rabbitprincess
Nov 24, 2023, 9:00 pm

>314 pamelad: I nearly snorted tea out my nose at "too much talk of groins". Hope the next book you pick up is better!

316MissBrangwen
Nov 25, 2023, 1:48 am

Hi, I finally caught up with your thread and added several titles to my WL. I enjoyed reading your reviews so much! And I was surprised to see that some of the older romance books are for sale on Amazon for 300€ or even 700€!!!

317pamelad
Nov 25, 2023, 6:54 pm

>315 rabbitprincess: The next one was groin-free!

>316 MissBrangwen: Thank you! Thank goodness for the Open Library, which has a big selection of vintage romances. You'd have to be a mad keen collector to pay 700 euros for one!

318pamelad
Nov 25, 2023, 7:06 pm

4. Steamless

The Unwavering Miss Winslow by Emma Lange

The beautiful Jessica Winslow has escaped her wicked stepfather and is working as a companion to an elderly lady when she comes face-to-face with an earl who has utterly misjudged her and made her life a misery. Will the earl recognise his mistake, or will he continue to ascribe greedy, grubby motives to her every action? This is readable but nothing special, and I disliked the hero.

This 1989 Signet romance is available in the Open Library.

319LadyoftheLodge
Nov 26, 2023, 4:43 pm

>315 rabbitprincess: Definitely snorting laughter here!!

320pamelad
Nov 26, 2023, 6:41 pm

I've just given up on Red, Red Rose by Marjorie Farrell because there's been a two-chapter diversion from the plot. We were with the army in France during the Napoleonic Wars, when we were diverted into a story about a piglet. I tried skimming, but realised I could no longer trust this author. Who knows what irrelevant rubbish she'll expect us to wade through next?

321pamelad
Editado: Nov 29, 2023, 12:30 am

2. Damaged and Desperate Heroines

Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel by Elisa Braden

The heroine isn't damaged, but she's facing dire poverty as well as needing a a scoundrel to pretend to be her betrothed because she can't manage to get rid of a repulsive suitor. Plot hole #1: Why is he so persistent?

Fortunately, on her way home from London with a farmer and his wife, the heroine finds the potential hero, who is close to death. Plot hole #2: He has been tortured by the henchman of a criminal mastermind. How did the hero end up in this position and why was he set free?

The hero is on the run from the criminal mastermind, but he's too ill to keep moving so he has to stay in the heroine's bed until he recovers. He's done some terrible things in the past, but underneath he is a kind and responsible man, so he stays a few extra days to pretend to be the heorine's betrothed.

This is an everything but the kitchen sink plot, so the twists and turns, and the holes, keep coming. The author does make desultory attempts to address our incredulity, but her explanations Just Aren't Good Enough.

I had to skip a lot of sex scenes and plot complications in order to finish this, so wouldn't recommend it. But I've read worse!

322christina_reads
Nov 29, 2023, 9:58 am

>321 pamelad: "I've read worse" -- a ringing endorsement! :) I do remember enjoying a novella by Elisa Braden (despite a very cringey sex scene) and wanting to try something else by her, but this definitely won't be the one!

323pamelad
Nov 30, 2023, 3:55 pm

>322 christina_reads: I might try another at some stage, but Braden needs to make her plots consistent. I don't mind a ridiculous plot, but ridiculous and angsty don't mix. She either needs to lighten up or to cut out some of the mysterious evildoers who torture people for the sake of it.

324pamelad
Editado: Nov 30, 2023, 4:14 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Squire's Daughter by Deborah Simmons

Clare Cummings comes across a handsome young man in a romantic mist-shrouded castle, and they become friends. He is the Marquess of Worthington, rumoured to have murdered a young woman, and leading a life of licentiousness and dissipation. But with Clare he's a different man. Despite their friendship coming to a sad end, they never forget one another, and when Clare needs a champion, Worthington is there.

This started off OK but became more and more tedious, with artificial plot twists, sentimentality, and predictability. On reaching the end I thought, "This is childish."

ETA It's not even steamless! Not graphic, though.

325pamelad
Editado: Dez 1, 2023, 1:56 am

5. Steamless

Appointment in Bath by Mimi Matthews

The follow-up to Return To Satterthwaite Court, this book takes place at the same time. Ivo is the middle Beresford son and Meg is the daughter of his family's enemy, Sir Frederick Burton-Smythe. Ivo and Meg first meet when she falls from her horse. They continue to meet in secret and fall in love, though in the usual way of historical romances neither one realises that the other person is also in love. There is a lot less drama than one might expect.

Pleasant but not special.

326MissBrangwen
Dez 1, 2023, 4:08 am

>325 pamelad: I have the first one on my kindle and want to read it some time after finishing The Parish Orphans of Devon.

327pamelad
Dez 6, 2023, 12:13 am

>326 MissBrangwen: I hope you like the Somerset Stories series. I've liked all of them so far.

328pamelad
Editado: Dez 6, 2023, 12:32 am

5. Steamless

The Country Gentleman by Dinah Dean

A vintage romance from 1985, this is bland, tidy and predictable, but a pleasant read. The heroine, Lucinda, is a vicar's (or is he a rector?) daughter who has taken over much of the parish work that the incumbent's wife would be expected to do. Her mother spends a lot of time ailing on a couch, but can bestir herself when the need is dire. The hero, John Harris, is a secretive gentleman who has recently moved into the area and is fixing up a dilapidated estate. Nearby is an army encampment, in which Harris is suspiciously interested. Is he a spy? There are other possible candidates, so he might not be, which would make Lucinda happy.

There's some historical detail, and quite a lot about bell-ringing, which was interesting, but Lucinda is so very charitable and good that I found her irritating.

329pamelad
Dez 11, 2023, 4:28 pm

5. Steamless

A Detestable Name by Arabella Brown

Pros: short and grammatical; free with Kindle Unlimited
Cons: lifeless characters who are manipulated through an uninteresting plot. People marry at the drop of a hat.

330pamelad
Dez 15, 2023, 3:53 pm

5. Steamless

Salt Redux by Lucinda Brant, a Georgian romance, is the sequel to Salt Bride, which is memorable for its Machiavellian, psychopathic villain who has been incarcerated in a remote Welsh estate for the last four years but has now escaped and is plotting to kill the wife and children of the Earl of Salt Hendon. The romance between the earl's sister, Caroline, and his cousin, Anthony, bubbles along in the background.

I enjoyed both books, which are available in Kindle Unlimited. It's best to read them in order.

331pamelad
Editado: Dez 15, 2023, 7:01 pm

Lucinda Brant also wrote The Roxton Family Sage Saga. I've read the first two and while checking out the rest in Kindle Unlimited found Eternally Yours: Roxton Letters Volume One, which is only 149 pages long and is a candidate for the epistolary square of the 2024 BingoDOG.

I'll also keep an eye out for a soldier to fill the warriors and mercenaries square. A lot of heroes are fighting in the Napoloeonic Wars, so there should be plenty of options. I'm tempted to start the BingoDOG now, but will hold off.

332DeltaQueen50
Dez 15, 2023, 4:14 pm

>330 pamelad: I've picked up both Salt Bride and Salt Redux through Kindle Unlimited and will hopefully fit them in next year.

333pamelad
Dez 15, 2023, 7:01 pm

>332 DeltaQueen50: I hope you like them, but even if you don't it's not a big investment!

334DeltaQueen50
Dez 17, 2023, 7:00 pm

>333 pamelad: Exactly!! :)

335pamelad
Editado: Dez 18, 2023, 4:13 pm

5. Second Chances

Proud Mary by Lucinda Brant

The fourth book in the Roxton Family Saga. Lady Mary was married to an awful baronet who died leaving no provision for his wife and daughter, but many debts. He made the local squire, Christopher Bryce, guardian of his daughter and steward of his estate. Bryce has been in love with lady Mary since their first meeting eight years ago, but Mary is cousin to a duke, sister of an earl and grand-daughter to a king, so would be disowned by society should she marry down. Before she married her awful husband, her life was made miserable by her ghastly mother, who is still interfering. As well as being too far down the social scale, Christopher's past contains some sordid secrets.

I quite enjoyed the book because the writing is good enough, the plot moves along, and I liked the main characters, but Brant has gone too far in the direction of Mary Balogh. The last few chapters are full of small children and relatives, and there's an unlikely pregnancy. It's all too twee.

It's free in Kindle Unlimited.

336pamelad
Editado: Dez 20, 2023, 8:04 pm

1. Damaged Dukes and Ailing Earls

The Devil is a Marquess by Elisa Braden

The marquess is close to financial ruin due to his deceased father's debts. He's supporting himself by gambling and taking money from the rich women he beds, and is drinking himself to death, so when a rich American businessman offers him 100,000 pounds to marry his daughter, with another 100,000 when a son is born, he accepts. His betrothed is tall, red-haired and clumsy and has had no success in the marriage market. She has been brought up by her English mother's family since the death of her mother when she was five.

I have read so many versions of this story, and this one does nothing to distinguish itself from the pack. The couple fall in love but don't admit it to one another, so they make themselves unhappy. Will they overcome their reticence? Of course they will, and I wish they'd done it in fewer pages.

This book is best suited to American readers. It's available, with the rest of the Rescued from Ruin series, in KoboPlus.

ETA I've read three books from this series and given them all 2.5 stars because they're nothing special, so I shouldn't waste my time reading another. But Violet, a tiny and exquisite young woman who is friend of the heroine, is pursuing an enormous earl who refuses to have anything to do with her. I have an hypothesis: he really wants her but is concerned that she might die in childbirth because the baby would be so big. I predict that in the next book they will marry and that she will have at least one child or, if there is a nauseating epilogue, a horde. Perhaps I will skim it and see.

337christina_reads
Dez 21, 2023, 9:38 am

>336 pamelad: OK I am curious to know what happens with Violet, so you have to read that one for science! :)

338pamelad
Editado: Dez 22, 2023, 3:34 pm

>337 christina_reads: I was wrong, and overestimated the hero. I also got the heroine's name wrong: it's Viola.

10. Everything Else

When a Girl Loves an Earl by Elisa Braden

Tiny Viola Darling falls in love at first sight with the huge earl, James Kilbrennan, and decides to marry him, but because of something in his past he's decided never to have children, so despite his overweening attraction to Viola he rejects her. He was a stonemason in a tiny Scottish village, unaware that he was the great grandson of an earl. (Marginally better than being a Canadian fur-trapper, a Texan cowboy or the proprietor of a gambling den.) The path to romance is strewn with misunderstandings. Yawn.

Too steamy for my taste and I didn't much care whether James and Viola got together. Apart from all the sex scenes there isn't much going on.

339christina_reads
Dez 22, 2023, 3:47 pm

>338 pamelad: Alas! But thanks for reading this one so I don't have to!

340pamelad
Dez 23, 2023, 3:42 pm

7. Why Did I Bother?

Accidentally Compromising the Duke by Stacy Reid

I've given up on this Kindle Unlimited book 58% of the way through because it's starting to sound like a self-help book. The author is a bit too much in love with her heroine, who is restoring joy to a grief-stricken duke who blames himself for his wife's death in child-birth. On top of that, it's full of grammatical errors.