Weekly Reads: June 12 to 18, 2023

Say Yes to the Princess by Charis Michaels (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Hidden Royals series. Elise is an exiled French princess being housed by the royal family and being redirected and managed after asking too many questions about a possible sighting of her lost younger brother. The royal family has hired Killian, the second son of an earl and all-around fixer, to distract Elise from her goals and to keep her from being nosy. While Elise and Killian start off at odds, they are instantly attracted to each other and want to know more about the other person’s background. Elise has her own issues of loneliness and despair, while Killian has also suffered from ostracism due to his mother’s background. It was so interesting to find out more about Killian’s backstory, especially in meeting his family at the estate where he grew up. And just like Elise, we start to fall in love with Killian in seeing his kindness towards his nephew. With all the mysteries to unravel, this book will keep the pages turning. The structure reminds me a lot of Michaels’ other work, A Duchess a Day, with a noblewoman falling in love a fixer/huntsman type of fellow who she recruits to assist with her own goals, which is also a wonderful book.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

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The Art of Loving You by Cara Maxwell (2021)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novella. Quick little romance between a daughter of a duke and a viscount. She’s a secret painter and he’s her secret patron and they’ve never met and only exchanged letters for the past two years. Harmony tries to set up a meeting with her patron, since they will be in town at the same time, and she’s kind of already mostly in love with the man by letter. While around town, she is constantly running into Oliver, who at first seems to be a snobby sort of viscount, but turns out to be as interested in art as she is. During an arranged meeting, Oliver realizes that Harmony is the painter he has been corresponding with and runs off before she can identify him. He wants Harmony to fall in love with him as himself, not just the man who has been supporting her art. This romance was cute to read and a nice introduction to the author’s writing style.

Ebook provided by the author by signing up for their email newsletter.

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What a Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden (2007)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Reece Family series. Younger twin brother to a duke, David, is charged with overseeing the estate while the duke is on his wedding trip with his wife. He is robbed by highwaymen on his way to London, somehow catches one of the thieves trying to pawn off his signet ring, and then imprisons her in his house. Vivian has worked with a band of thieves to survive and in trying to sell off some goods, get captured by David. They’re both stubborn and argue and she’s basically trapped in his house for weeks because he’s unscrupulous thief-mate kept the ring that David wants. Over time though, these two start talking and spending time together and eventually start an affair. It was fun to read these two start to open up to each other about their pasts and then team up against a common enemy later on in the book. This one has a pretty believable transformation of David’s character, with him starting as a guilt-ridden repentant scoundrel who slowly realizes that he can try to reform himself.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Wicked Nights with a Lover by Sophie Jordan (2010)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Penwich School for Virtuous Girls series. Marguerite has a run-in with a fortune-teller who tells her that she will be dying before the year is out. Having lived modestly for years and saving up for the future, Marguerite decides to take a year of sabbatical from work as a nurse and go on an adventure. Before she can go do that, she ends up being kidnapped by her father’s business associate, Ash, and carried off to be married. Based on what the fortune-teller had said, Marguerite believes that the marriage will be one step closer to her death, but she also is terribly attracted to Ash. There’s a ton of back and forth on whether Marguerite will agree to marry Ash, which isn’t terribly interesting to read. This book is light on the plot and pretty average on the romance. On the plus side, we do get to meet a couple of Marguerite’s sisters, who end up being featured in a future series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Forget Me Not by Julie Soto (2023)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Debut novel from one of my favorite fanfiction authors (known as LovesBitca8 on AO3). This one is a second-chance romance between Ama, a wedding planner who doesn’t believe in commitment, and Elliot, a florist who took over his father’s shop. The present-day chapters are told from Ama’s perspective, with past timeline chapters told from Elliot’s. In the present timeline, Ama has booked a high profile wedding that could elevate her career but has to work with Elliot on the florals, even though they haven’t spoken in about two years. In the past timeline, we get to see how they meet and get together, and it’s absolutely delightful reading Elliot’s self-deprecating awkwardness and internal monologue. In both timelines, we get to see Elliot’s gruff, but caring nature, and that he’s a total sap. (Think Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls, but younger and hotter, but still wearing plaid). This book had all the best emotionally written lines and you can feel Ama’s angst in the present day even if you don’t quite understand where it all went wrong. Amazing book and I’m super excited for more people to read it.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley. Advance print book provided by Forever Books. Advance audiobook provided via Libro.fm.

A Rake’s Guide to Seduction by Caroline Linden (2008)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Reece Family Trilogy series. Celia is the younger sister of a duke in her first Season and enjoying the balls and parties and suitors; she is rescued from a proposal by her brother’s scandalous friend Anthony and is somewhat intrigued by him. Anthony is heir to an earl who had cast him out and cut off any financial support, so he is forced to gamble and make investments for his living. Anthony seems to believe that he is an unworthy suitor for Celia, but still takes a chance and asks the duke for permission to court her. Unfortunately, he’s too late, and Celia is already engaged to someone else. We learn more about Celia’s engagement and marriage through her diary entries up until her husband’s death four years later. We pick up the story again when Celia is out of mourning and her mother has arranged a house party to lift her spirits. There, Anthony and Celia slowly reconnect, as much as he tries to avoid her due to his scandalous reputation.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Her Rogue for One Night by Dawn Brower (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Wicked Widows League series. Quick romance between a widow and an earl who is the grandson of the dowager countess that has mentored and befriended the young widow. Claudine spent very little time with her husband before he went off to war and when he died, he left her in the care of his viscount father, who apparently is quite overbearing. Claudine has been part of the widows league and is very fond of the dowager countess who started it all. When the dowager’s grandson Hudson comes to visit, he and Claudine start a bit of a flirtation that leads to one night together. Neither are interested in marriage or a relationship, but they are very much attracted to each other. This one’s a short, fairly low-angst book.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

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Someone to Honor by Mary Balogh (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 6 of the Westcotts series. There are so many meddling family members in this series, it will make the most sense if you read it in order. We’re up to book 6 here and it’s about 6 years after the instigating events of the series where an earl was married bigamously, invalidating the marriage and rendering three of his children to be illegitimate. The son of that union, Harry, is traveling back home from war after sustaining many injuries. He’s being escorted by his friend and commanding officer, Gil, who was raised by his unwed washerwoman mother who was cast out of her family, though was purchased a commission from his father many years later. Gil is glad to be back in England, but is facing a custody battle over his young daughter, who was sent to live with her maternal grandparents before Gil’s wife died at a house party. He’s got a whole lot of struggle ahead of him and is slightly apprehensive of meeting and interacting with Harry’s well-meaning but smothering family. When Harry’s younger sister Abigail arrives to see Harry, she and Gil have terrible first impressions of each other, but slowly start to develop a polite acquaintance over time, eventually leading to their marriage for practical reasons. It’s the slowest of slow burns in this book, but somehow totally believable. And we get to see the Westcotts rally (which is one of the best features of this series), this time, in support of Gil and his court case for his daughter’s custody.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Bed Me, Duke by Felicity Niven (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Bed Me Books series. The action starts in chapter 1 with our countess (in her own right) Helen asking Jack for lessons in seduction so that she can somehow convince the new duke to marry her. Although we find out that the plain old Jack, retired ship captain, is actually the new duke but he has been a commoner in disguise as he gets the lay of the land. We rewind to three weeks prior when Jack finds out that he has inherited after his cousin dies, and learns a bit more of his backstory and why he treats women with such distrust. Loved the character build of Jack and you definitely understand why he is the way he is. When he goes to visit his new estate in Scotland, he uses his common name and does not let anyone know he’s the duke, when he meets Helen, the neighboring countess. She has had her own share of struggles with an impoverished estate and sees marriage to the new duke as a solution to her troubles. She’s also terribly unsure of herself as a woman and lack of sensual appeal, even if she’s a strong and effective leader. Helen is loud and brash and forthright and somehow all of these things appeal very much to Jack, who is the most appealing and desirable man that Helen has ever seen. We get to see Helen and Jack slowly fall in love, but really cannot commit to each other, since Helen needs to snare the duke despite her ugly appearance, and Jack feels guilty for deceiving Helen about his identity. It’s a horrible muddle that will keep you reading to find out how it resolves.

Advance ebook provided by Felicity Niven.

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Someone to Remember by Mary Balogh (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 6.5 of the Westcotts series. If you’re usually an audiobook reader, I recommend picking up the ebook or print copy of this to read the author’s note on why she wrote Matilda’s story. Not part of the initial plan for the Westcotts series, Matilda’s personality and love story came about as Balogh was writing about the younger members of the family. Lady Matilda Westcott is the oldest sister of all the meddlesome aunts, spinster, and caretaker of the dowager countess. We learn in the previous book that she had a prior acquaintance with Charles, Viscount Dirkson, a friend of her younger brother, and the natural father of Gil (the main character of Book 6). We find out in this book that Matilda and Charles had a brief romance thirty-six years ago, but Charles’ offer for Matilda was rejected by her father. In response to the rejection, Charles drowned his sorrows in women, adding to his scandalous reputation. Meanwhile, Matilda never married and stayed with her mother this whole time. In this novella, we see Matilda and Charles interact with each other again after all these years, now fully grown and matured. It was so interesting to read about their history and see Matilda’s personality shine in this book. The support that she has from all of her nieces and nephews is absolutely delightful. This second chance romance was just so much fun to read and I loved seeing Matilda finally getting her own happily ever after.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl (2010)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the York Family series. Younger sister of a baron, Marissa, has gotten herself caught in a compromising situation with a man who she doesn’t want to marry. Marissa is shallow and flighty and just wanted to find some pleasure (even though the fumbling man she was with did not provide it). But with the potential for scandal, her baron brother insists that she marry. Her other brother’s friend Jude steps up and volunteers for the job, despite him being the illegitimate son of a duke and someone who has completely escaped Marissa’s notice until now. Jude has been intrigued by Marissa’s wickedness and hopes to make her his wife in truth. She’s just hoping for a fake engagement for the time-being until the scandal blows over and she can get back to dancing and frivolity. I generally don’t love books with shallow spoiled women, but somehow this one works, with her slow realization that she really is callous and cruel towards Jude. There’s also a lot going on with other characters at the house party and it’s fun to see how the players all interconnect. And there was a nice set-up her for brother Aidan’s story next.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

It’s Always Been You by Victoria Dahl (2011)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the York Family series. Aidan, second son of a baron, had loved and lost when his sweetheart died at sea. After that tragedy, ten years prior, he turned into a cold and unfeeling rake. In a small shipping town on business, he sees a woman that looks like his old sweetheart, Kate and follows her into her shop. Well, it turns out Kate didn’t die and her parents lied about the death and married her off to a plantation owner in Ceylon. After suffering a horrible marriage, she’s fled and built a new identity and business in England. While Aidan and Kate reconnect, find out what thwarted them all those years ago, Kate is still keeping secrets about her marriage. Enjoyable read, even if somewhat predictable.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Wicked West by Victoria Dahl (2009)

Historical romance. Western America. Standalone novella. Super short and quick steamy read. A widow from England moves to Wyoming and is neighbors with the town sheriff. They can see and hear each other from their respective bedroom windows, so she seduces him until he comes over to her house. She can tell that he’s the dominant-type, even though he is ashamed of it, but lets him know that she is interested in submitting to him, so they start an affair.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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