Weekly Reads: February 20 to 26, 2023

A Rake’s Guide To Pleasure by Victoria Dahl (2009)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Somerhart series. Emma is an orphan who is posing as a widowed baroness to gamble her way through London before the Season begins. She’s trying to save up enough money to escape to a seaside cottage and support herself and her maid. With her scandalous gambling, she’s caught the attention of Hart, who is a stern and serious duke with a history of debauched behavior. He insists that she’ll become his mistress, but she is hesitant and shy about it. There’s a lot of chasing each other and bickering in this story, and it seems like Hart is mostly just a distraction from Emma’s real goals. He does sort of ultimately redeem himself, but it’s a long and humbling road for him.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Taming the Rake by Erica Ridley (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Lords in Love series. Gladys the wallflower is at the Marrywell Matchmaking Festival for the fourth time and needs to find a marriage match before her dowry is given to her delightful younger sister. She finds herself kissed in a garden and expected a proposal from the handsome gentleman, but he never shows up, and she was spotted in a disheveled state, so now she’s publicly ruined as well. Her family cuts her off completely and she has to survive on her own. Five years later, she returns to Marrywell to find the man who ruined her and seek revenge. But he’s a lot less rakish than he seemed before and Gladys is at risk of falling in love. I really enjoyed Gladys’ transformation to a confident woman and the development of her relationship with Reuben.

Advance ebook provided by Erica Ridley via NetGalley.

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Harry Potter Fanfic: The Weight of the Void by Anonymous

Draco/Hermione, One-shot, 5k words. Hermione time-travels back five years to when Draco was in prison, before he was cursed to never have children.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

Harry Potter Fanfic: Throw Your Arms Around Me by points_plural

Snape/Hermione, Multi-chapter, 9k words. Short friends-to-lovers story.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

Lady with a Black Umbrella by Mary Balogh (1989)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novel. Daisy is an interfering meddlesome piece of baggage who embarrasses Giles at every turn in her effort to assist him. She’s taking her bossy spinster self to London as a chaperone for her younger sister’s Season (even though she’s only twenty-five and actually quite pretty). She defends the handsome viscount Giles against ruffians at an inn, brandishing a black umbrella, and causes him to be a laughingstock. They just keep running into each other in London, somehow his cousin ends up sponsoring the girls into society, and then Giles and Daisy get caught in a compromising situation together. It’s basically just a trainwreck of calamity through this book, but it was humorous and entertaining.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

One Week As Lovers by Victoria Dahl (2009)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Somerhart series. Lord Lancaster, an impoverished viscount, catches his wealthy fiancee with another man at a ball, but knows he’s stuck marrying her anyways. When he gets a letter that his childhood friend Cynthia has died, he rushes back to his childhood hometown to pay his respects. When he’s there, he finds that she is not dead after all, but faked her death to escape an arranged marriage to a horrible suitor. Lancaster is fighting his own demons from his history of a happy childhood turning to a darker adolescence and also trying to resist his attraction for Cynthia. That doesn’t last long though, as they team up to find some buried treasure in the caves on Lancaster’s land.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Prospector’s Only Prospect by Dani Collins (2023)

Historical romance. Pre-Civil War America. Standalone novel. Divorced and disgraced with nowhere to go, Marigold sets off to marry a stranger. Her sister had been set to be a mail order bride, but found another suitor, so Marigold takes her place and travels west. When she arrives, Virgil is angry to find a stranger instead of his bride, but takes her home with him anyway to keep house and care for his three children. They bicker and argue, but it’s clear that Marigold is good with the kids and adapts well to her primitive surroundings. It’s definitely a slow burn romance with lots of missteps (mostly from Virgil), but the writing is refreshingly humorous and you’ll appreciate the competence from both parties and willingness to work together. I had a great time reading this book and can’t wait to see more from this author in this setting.

Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley. Print book provided by Entangled Publishing.

House of the Dragon Fanfic: For Night is Dark by rentekren

Harwin/Rhaenyra, 8k words. A tryst in the woods.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

House of the Dragon Fanfic: The One That Got Away by Keepmystrength

Harwin/Rhaenyra, 17k words. After Luke’s death, a man claiming to be the long-dead Harwin comes to visit.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Union of the Rakes series. Lady Grace is a bookish researcher interested in reptiles and amphibians, but unfortunately, the gentlemen of the ton are not interested in her as marriageable material. In order to catch the attention of her long-time crush, she recruits her bookish friend Sebastian to play the part of a rake and pay her court. Shy and awkward Sebastian is willing to go along with it to help Grace, but struggles with crowds and strange people. Of course, as these two spend more time together, they realize their feelings run deeper than friendship (but each thinks the other person is only interested in being friends). It’s just a bad case of both being complete cowards and unwilling to communicate what they really want.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.