The last week of the year! I’ve finished up Callie Hutton’s Marriage Mart Mayhem series and squeezed in a few holiday novellas to bring my 2022 book count up to 370. Plus a bunch of random fanfics to round out the week.
Harry Potter Fanfic: Under Wraps by corvusdraconis and Dragon_and_the_Rose
Severus/Hermione, long one-shot, 11k words. It’s another kinda weird corvusdraconis creature-fic with Severus and Hermione being vampires. The romance is super light in this story and mostly just deals with them growing up in some sort of vampire commune.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
Bridgerton Fanfic: Merry Smutmas! by Honeybeebunches
Anthony/Kate, modern AU, smutty one-shot. Anthony walks in on Kate having a little private time in the bedroom and joins in.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
The Highlander’s Choice by Callie Hutton (2015)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 5 of the Marriage Mart Mayhem series. Lady Sybil is in Scotland for her friend’s wedding, but she’s already prejudiced against Scotsmen, thinking they’re brash barbarians. Sybil’s friend’s fiancee has brought his neighbor and friend, Liam, to the estate, and he’s got his own preconceived notions of Englishwomen, thinking they’re spoiled and dainty princesses. Both are terribly wrong for each other, but they seem to prove the stereotypes wrong, and are intensely attracted to each other. Eventually, Liam invites Sybil to his home to meet his family and see if they’ll suit for marriage, and Liam’s mother is secretly cruel to Sybil. It’s a whole lot of drama and these two need to get over their prejudices before anything can be settled.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
Harry Potter Fanfic: Between Fine Lines by fairyofthesnakes
Regulus/Hermione, multi-chapter, 64k words. When Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave at the end of Half-Blood Prince, they find Regulus Black suspended in the lake. They bring him back, he spends the summer at Hermione’s muggle house, and a romance develops between Regulus and Hermione. The rest of the story involves a lot of the same things as the original Deathly Hallows, but with Regulus in tow, and spun around in a different order. The action-adventure part of the story was really interesting, but the tags were misleading… it’s rated Explicit and has a tag that says “we earning that e rating”, but it really didn’t. It really should have been rated T. The mislabeling made it a bit of a let-down, since I was expecting smut, but then nothing on that front happened. I think if you go in with the expectation that there are no naked-times here, you’ll enjoy the story just fine.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
Rosalynn’s Rebellion by Maggie Sims (2022)
Historical romance, Regency England. Prequel novella of the School of Enlightenment series. Maggie Sims messaged me on Instagram to ask if I would be interested in reviewing an ARC of her book, which I was totally flattered and excited by, so I went to her website to see what other books were in the series. As a reader who likes to go in order, I’m glad I was able to pick up the prequel novella for free on the website. Rosalynn and Nicholas’ engagement and marriage is imminent, despite the years-old rumor that Nicholas was a previous patron of a spanking club. Rosalynn is open-minded and wants to experience Nick’s kinks, even though he is reluctant to expose his well-bred wife to those desires and fears for her reputation. Rosalynn is also a patroness of a new charity school that she will be opening for girls and suggests including marital acts within the curriculum. Short and steamy novella that introduces the origins of the School of Enlightenment.
Ebook free from the author’s website.
Nightingale by Cathy Maxwell (2014)
Historical romance, Regency England. Standalone novella. Sir Dane is about to fight a duel the next morning with his previous love’s brother. While getting his affairs in order, Jemma, the woman who had previously rejected him comes to beg for her brother’s life. This book is a super short, takes place in one day, second chance romance. When Jemma and Dane were young, they promised to marry, but she jilted him and married a much older lord instead. Dane was completely heartbroken and was unable to pursue his original career path of being a vicar, and ended up in business instead, making his fortune and traveling the world. Now a debt-ridden widow, Jemma aims to protect her brother from having to face a duel. Fun quick read and it was a great intro to Cathy Maxwell’s writing style, since I hadn’t read any of her books before.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
Harry Potter Fanfic: His Secret Santa by Reddokitsune
Snape/Hermione, Multi-chapter, 31k words. Alternate universe where Severus and Lily are married and Harry is Snape’s son. Hermione is Severus’ student and friends with Harry and Draco. Most of the story is Severus’ internal struggle of being attracted to his student while being a happily married man (or so he thinks). Lily-bashing in this one to resolve Severus’ issues of being attached.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
Harry Potter Fanfic: One kiss a day by Ralina
Fred/Hermione, Multi-chapter, 17k words. Fred and Hermione are married under the Ministry’s Marriage Law. This one is mostly fluff with first dates and other firsts. Cute and quick read.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
Harry Potter Fanfic: Hermione’s Secret by Amebb42
Fred/Hermione, Drabble, 500 words. When Hermione destroys the Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets, Ron finds out about her secret relationship with Fred.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
The Highlander’s Accidental Marriage by Callie Hutton (2015)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 6 of the Marriage Mart Mayhem series. Lady Sarah is on the road to see her twin sister Sybil in Scotland and runs into many calamities along the journey. In a carriage accident, she loses her driver and footman, and is rescued by Professor Braedon on his way to his home (which neighbors Sarah’s sister). Sarah’s maid/chaperone falls ill and they need to leave her behind to continue the journey. At one inn, Sarah declares herself married to Braedon so that they can reserve the last available room for the night. Unfortunately, in Scotland, that counts as being legally married. While these two are very obviously attracted to each other, they had no intentions whatsoever of getting married anytime soon: Sarah is about to be a published novelist and has obligations in London, while Braedon is awaiting an opportunity to go on a scholarly expedition in Rome. Both are stubborn and deem their individual pursuits more important than their accidental spouse. There’s definitely a lot of conflict here between these two that needs resolving for any sort of happily ever after.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
The Earl’s Return by Callie Hutton (2016)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 7 of the Marriage Mart Mayhem series. Back in Book 3 of the series, an earl abandons his fiancee two weeks before the wedding and elopes with another woman. Now a widower, he’s back in London to seek a new bride and is fascinated by the younger sister of the woman he jilted. How’s that for drama? While Redgrave was an off-page villain in the previous book, we learn in this one the reasons for his actions (and subsequent misery); turns out it was a trap mixed with blackmail. Lady Mary is wary of the man because of what he did to her sister, but cannot help be attracted to him and realize that there is likely more to his story than it appears. Mary has her own secrets and history which makes her skittish around men. It was interesting to see these two open up about their secrets and learn to trust the other person.
Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.
Harry Potter Fanfic: One Night by Okhili
Severus/Hermione, Three Chapters, 8k words. It’s Hermione’s last night as a Hogwarts student and she asks Severus for one night in his bed.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
Star Wars Fanfic: Originality by blankfish
Reylo one-shot. After Rey stabs (and heals) Kylo Ren, they have a quick tryst before she walks away from him.
Read this fic on Archive of Our Own
The Mistletoe Trap by Eve Pendle (2018)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 1 of the Faking Stitch Series. Novella-length second chance romance. Amelia runs a business selling her embroidery to other women who want to pass her work off as their own, which is the thread that holds this series together. One Christmas, her mother informs her that her previous suitor Robert, now a widow and single father, is joining their house party. Amelia was heartbroken when Robert announced his engagement to another woman and has not seen him since then. Now that they’re thrown together again, they need to face their longstanding attraction to each other and actually communicate about the miscommunication that happened all those years ago. Amelia was so terribly shy and hesitant that Robert did not think that she cared for him and he ended up caught and engaged to someone else. Meanwhile, she was heartbroken that Robert did not propose to her and refused his further friendship. An emotional muddle that ultimately gets cleared up, but there’s another piece of drama: Robert’s first wife died in childbirth so Robert doesn’t want to cause that to happen to someone else. Lots of angst inside this quick read, in a good way.
Ebook purchased from Amazon.
The Mistletoe Temptation by Eve Pendle (2022)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 2 of the Faking Stitch Series. The second book of this series catches up with one of Amelia’s embroidery clients. Gina is avoiding marriage until she can gain her inheritance at age 21 to travel the world. At a ball over the summer, her brother’s best friend Emmett catches onto her ruse of dressing poorly and dancing atrociously and proposes a fake engagement. They agree that the engagement will last until her 21st birthday, which is Christmas. Except Emmett secretly wants to keep Gina forever since she is unlike all the other ladies on the marriage mart. As they spend time together over the next six months, they form a friendship and grow closer, but still need to discuss and resolve their disparate goals. I also really enjoyed this quick read.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla
Respect for Christmas by Grace Burrowes (2014)
Historical romance, Regency England. Standalone novella. Henrietta is a retired courtesan on a journey to her hometown for the holidays; she’s had a strained relationship with her brothers and completely estranged from her father. While traveling, she meets Michael, a newly minted baron who seems to treat her respectfully, despite her past profession. However, we find out that Michael has been tasked by another lord to steal back a journal from Henrietta’s possession. He feels terribly guilty, she feels betrayed, they’re both lonely and isolated from their families, and it’s all a huge mess. However, the resolution here is really satisfying and worth all the drama and angst.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint by Alexandra Vasti (2023)
Historical romance, Regency England. Book 2 of the Halifax Hellions Series. There’s so much going on in this book that it’s hard to summarize it all in one line. Matilda is a twin and scandalously known as one of the Halifax Hellions; she and her sister Margo have a reputation of behaving outrageously and getting into trouble. However, Matilda has a secret that no one knows about: she draws naughty pictures and sells them to printers who put together erotic pamphlets. Christian finds himself the subject of these naughty drawings and confronts Matilda. He has his own problems with scandal and speculation since he was rumored to have murdered his wife. Matilda is apologetic and wants to make it up to Christian, but he won’t allow it; she finally wears him down and convinces him to let her come to his home to serve a painting tutor for his younger sister and they set off on the road. Matilda leaves a note for her sister that she’s eloped, hoping that she won’t be followed. (We see twin sister Margo’s perspective in the previous book) From there, we have an easygoing road trip, a confrontation with Margo, a rescued cat, arrival at a dusty castle, a reluctant sister, and finally an honest conversation with Christian. This book will keep all the pages turning for you because you want so badly to find out what happens next.
Advance ebook provided by Alexandra Vasti.
Mistletoe Bonus Epilogues by Eve Pendle (2022)
Historical romance, Regency England. Bonus chapters for the Faking Stitch Series. Cute little bonus scenes with our happily married couples. One chapter for Amelia and Robert; one chapter for Gina and Emmett.
Ebook free from author’s email newsletter.
Want more Harry Potter fanfic? Here’s a spreadsheet of my all-time favorites.
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