Weekly Reads: January 16 to 22, 2023

Bianca and the Huntsman by Erica Ridley (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Standalone novella. Snow White retelling here with Bianca being the illegitimate daughter of an earl, orphaned, and taken in by her late father’s wife to serve as a housemaid. The countess who prides herself on being the fairest of the land is angry when her parrot declares Bianca to be most beautiful. The countess hires the Huntsman (really, an impoverished earl named Harry looking for an impressive dowry) to ruin the girl. Instead, he tells her to run away. After that, Bianca befriends seven wallflowers with quirky personality traits, and Harry can’t stay away from her. Fun and short story to read.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas (2008)

Historical romance. Victorian England. Book 2 of the London Trilogy series. This one is an estranged marriage story told in non-chronological order. We learned in the last book that marchioness has an arrangement with her husband allowing her to dally with affairs. In this book, we learn how their marriage starts, becomes fractured, and how they might find their way back to each other. In the non-chronological storytelling, it takes awhile for the reader to uncover what happened ten years ago and all the intervening years since. When we start the story, Gigi has requested a divorce from Camden so that she can be free to marry another man. He comes back to town from abroad to demand that she gives him an heir before he’ll grant the divorce. We get to learn all the dirty angsty history of how Gigi and Camden ended up married in the first place and how they both acted immaturely along the way. In reading this book, I could tell that something terribly manipulative was going to happen and not at all looking forward to the fallout. Meanwhile, in the background, Gigi’s mother is trying to cultivate a backup plan for Gigi to meet a neighboring duke, but falls for him herself.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Insatiable by Darcy Burke (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Book 8 of the Phoenix Club series. This is the final book of the series and we finally see our meddlesome club owner Lucien meet his match. With the scandal and drama that closed out the end of Book 7, Lucien is at risk of losing the club from the intervention of the anonymous patrons from the Foreign Office. However, it seems there is more danger behind the scenes. Meanwhile, his friend’s younger sister, Kat, has decided this is the Season she will dedicate more research to the mating habits of people. Kat is bookish and socially awkward and gets overwhelmed by crowds easily, but is comfortable with and attracted to Lucien. She asks him for assistance in her research and he can only resist for so long because he finds her honesty and directness attractive as well. I really enjoyed this book and it was a great ending to the whole series.

Advance ebook provided by Darcy Burke via NetGalley.

Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau (2023)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novella. Helen is a slightly grumpy not-so-smiley young woman who was publicly dumped last Valentine’s Day, with a video of her break-up going viral. She’s sworn off dating and relationships, but her friends and family are starting to worry by the time it’s New Years. She asks her guy friend Taylor to be her fake boyfriend to get everyone off her case. However, she soon finds herself attracted to Taylor, but scared to make it real. This was a quick and fun read, with things progressing in a predictable manner, but still super enjoyable and steamy. We’ve got nods to cultural foods for our Chinese-Canadian characters, running jokes about cheesy heart-shaped cakes, and Taylor being the best sunshine fake-boyfriend ever.

Advance ebook provided by Kobo Originals via NetGalley.

His at Night by Sherry Thomas (2010)

Historical romance. Victorian England. Book 3 of the London Trilogy series. This one is the romance (sort of) between two people who are the best manipulative actors around. Lord Vere is a secret agent to the crown and plays the part of the bumbling fool while Elissande is desperate to escape her cruel uncle’s home and plays the part of his the poised and cordial niece. When Lord Vere and a whole house party scheme to impose on Elissande’s household while her uncle is away, she knows it’s her only opportunity to compromise a man into marriage. Initially, Elissande has her sights set on Vere, but when he starts to talk as the idiot he protrays, she quickly switched targets. However, Vere is onto Elissande’s schemes and aims to protect his younger brother from being compromised. When Vere and Elissande are caught together, they must marry. While it’s quite obvious why Elissande has done something so cruel and selfish, she starts to see the cracks in Vere’s facade and asks him to drop the pretense of his idiocy. However, he continues to play his role and uphold his duties to the crown. Most of the book is spent disliking each other, even though brief moments of tenderness peak through. There’s also a nice secondary romance with Vere’s brother Freddie (who was rejected in Book 2) and his childhood friend. I did like how the elements of the mystery were tied together and the big reveal at the end of the book.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Only The Valet Will Do by Sophie Barnes (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Standalone novella. Lady Lilliana has a meet-cute with her brother’s valet in the woods and feels an instant connection with him. Unfortunately, the disparity in their stations means that it won’t work out and she should stay away from him. However, he may be more eligible than he seems. Tristan is part of the landed gentry and considered a gentleman, but his father’s gambling debts have forced him to seek out employment. Hiding his true identity, he becomes a valet to a viscount and meets his sister Lilliana. Tristan has very little to offer with his diminished circumstances, so he also tries to stay away from the lady who has captivated him. But this is a novella, so it all works out pretty quickly and neatly. Enjoyable read if you need a low-angst bit of fluff.

Advance ebook provided by Sophie Barnes via NetGalley.

Harry Potter Fanfic: The Empathic Witch by debjunk

Snape/Hermione, multi-chapter, 55k words. Hermione learns a new type of healing magic that also lets her speak to people’s dreams and subconscious. While she’s on the horcrux hunt, she reaches out to Snape’s dreams to find out why he killed Dumbledore. They start a dream-relationship.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

Harry Potter Fanfic: These Tears by SlytherinLovesAGryffindor

Viktor/Hermione, one-shot, 1k words. After a decade of missed connections between these two, there’s one last chance to be together.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

Bridgerton Fanfic: An Unexpected Bridgerton by storyhadmelike

Benedict/Penelope, one-shot, 3k words. After Penelope overhears Colin’s disparaging words at the end of episode 2.8, Benedict goes after her. Worth reading just for the gasp-worthy plot twist at the end.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own