Weekly Reads: September 4 to 10, 2023

A Wallflower’s Folly by Amanda Mariel (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Fated for a Rogue series. Olivia and William were betrothed by their parents as children, but Olivia hasn’t heard from William in about 15 years. She believed that he was not interested in actually marrying her, so she is happy to live as an independent spinster without a husband. William finally decides he needs a wife to assist with his younger sisters’ debut into society, so he comes to collect his betrothed and is surprised to find that she is completely resistant to the idea of marriage. He softens up pretty quickly and feels guilty for having ignored her all these years and attempts to make amends. This one is a quick novella that’s relatively low-angst and fun to read.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org

The Good, the Bad, and the Duke by Janna MacGregor (2018)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Cavensham Heiresses series. Lady Daphne accidentally gets left in London alone at Christmastime in a mix-up of whether she’s traveling with her brother or her mother. She decides to use this time to focus on her goals of setting up a home for unwed mothers and to establish her own residence. While mulling over her options in the park, her reticule and personal journal are stolen by a young boy and she gives chase. Eventually tracking the boy to a gambling hell, she bumps into Paul, her brother’s former friend and now nemesis who tries to rescue Daphne and protect her reputation. Over the next few days, Daphne and Paul team up to try to recover her journal, while also rekindling their long ago childhood friendship. Daphne is caring and compassionate towards Paul, who has acted the villain in previous books in this series. It turns out he was treated horribly by his father, even after his father’s death with cutting notes and reminders of his wastrel ways. There’s a tiny disagreement about the purchase of a property that Daphne wants to use as her charity house and Paul wants to use as a hospital in honor of his brother’s illness, but that scuffle is pretty minor compared to the risk of scandal Daphne is under if her journal is discovered. And of course when Daphne’s family comes back and starts meddling, we get even more drama.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org // Libro.fm

The Scoundrel Falls Hard by Sophie Jordan (2022)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Duke Hunt series. Kellan and his father have been swindling a country village by posting as the new duke and heir. The village people are out for blood and have chased after Kellan and plan to hang him. The local blacksmith Gwen believes this to be cruel and unjust so she tries to save Kellan by declaring that she’s in love with him, despite not knowing him at all. To prove that they’re actually in love, the banns are called for a wedding between the two. In the three weeks of their engagement, Gwen and Kellan come to an agreement for a marriage of convenience where Kellan will assist Gwen around the house and smithy. While Gwen insists on keeping the marriage platonic, we’ll see how long that lasts with the ever-charming and protective Kellan.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Rogue Most Wanted by Janna MacGregor (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Cavensham Heiresses series. Thea is supposed to be a countess in her own right, but the local duke is contesting her title and claiming that the earldom should also be his as the male heir to Thea’s grandfather. With the ensuing legal battle, Thea considers marriage and asks for her neighbor’s assistance in finding a match. Our dear old neighbor has a beloved great-nephew who might be perfect for the job. William is the second son of a duke who is generally resistant to marriage because of a previous heartache when he was younger. When Thea and William meet, both agree that a hasty marriage is not ideal and they become friends. Friends who are highly attracted to each other. As Thea meets the Cavensham clan, she quickly becomes smitten of the entire family and sees what a loving household William belongs to. Feeling like a total outsider, Thea doesn’t think that she is a suitable match for William, even though William thinks of himself as unworthy of Thea. This book was a fun slow-burn romance with delightfully meddlesome aunts.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Wild, Wild Rake by Janna MacGregor (2020)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 6 of the Cavensham Heiresses series. Avalon suffered a terrible marriage with a marquess, but now has freedom as a widow to pursue charitable endeavors at her country estate. Her son’s guardian is suspicious of the funding for the charity, so he sends his vicar brother Devan to the village to investigate. Avalon and Devan have bickered in the past, mostly because she jilted his best friend once upon a time, and Devan has seen her become a cold and icy marchioness. She really just developed a coping mechanism to deal with the horrible husband that her parents forced her to marry and then realized that being cool and distant could prevent her from suffering any further heartbreak. Of course, Avalon is wary of Devan’s new role in her village, especially with his debaucherous reputation and the naughty vicar. As they spend more time together, they slowly develop a friendship and get to know a bit more of each other’s true personalities. I loved how Devan turned out to be such a charismatic and responsible vicar, despite the rakish personality we’ve seen in previous books. Add in a bit of drama with one of the local debutantes, and we see both Avalon and Devan coming to each other’s rescue.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Despising the Duke by Stevie Sparks (2023)

Historical romance. Interwar-era England. Book 2 of the Lords of Desire series. Angsty second chance romance with the sister of a duke and her brother’s best friend. Lady Annabelle is a suffragist completely uninterested in marriage but is charmed by the rakish best friend of her brother, Kit. Over a few months of flirtation, they engage in a liaison and promise each other they’ll wait for Kit’s return from a years-long expedition to Antarctica to marry. Circumstances force Annabelle to marry someone else while Kit is away, so he’s hurt and betrayed when he returns. We jump sixteen years and Kit has publicly humiliated and ruined Annabelle (now a widow) and she’s run off to a remote estate in Scotland. After learning some critical information about Annabelle, Kit tracks her down and confront the truth about what happened all those years ago. We then have these two trying to work out their issues (in a pretty steamy fashion) and try to move on with their future. I was glad to see these two have a pretty direct conversation with each other about the past and work together.

Advance ebook provided by Stevie Sparks.

A Groom of One’s Own by Maya Rodale (2010)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Writing Girls series. Sophie gets jilted on her wedding day in a horribly embarrassing prologue. A year later, Sophie has become a well-known newspaper writer with a column featuring weddings of the aristocracy. She has a meet-cute with a duke (who she doesn’t know is a duke) and is later shocked to find that he is engaged to be married and that she will need to report upon the wedding. Brandon is the ultra-serious and responsible double duke who has decided to marry an equally respectable lady. However, he’s completely distracted and besotted by Sophie, but cannot break his duty to his fiancee. It’s all tricky business being an upstanding fellow. Luckily, his fiancee isn’t actually in love with him and has another suitor in the mix. This book was a fun countdown towards the wedding day and left me wondering how everything would all work out for all four players involved.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Duke Experiment by Eve Pendle (2023)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Part of the I Like Big Dukes and I Cannot Lie anthology. Quick novella about a duke scientist (Matthew) who is assigned to share his lab space with a female doctoral candidate (Emma). He decides he’s in love with her immediately, but he’s clumsy and awkward so he pretty much ruins his chances. After that, they have a bickering co-worker type of relationship until our duke finally takes the chance to show his affection for Emma.

Advance ebook provided by Eve Pendle via BookSprout.

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A Duke of Her Own by Lorraine Heath (2009)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Rogues and Roses series. At twenty-six years old, Louisa determines that she has no marital prospects as the impoverished sister of an earl so she takes a job as a chaperone for American heiresses that need assistance navigating through society. Her brother and his two friends are terrible candidates for her charges, so she warns them away. Hawk is one of those determined friends who needs a wealthy duchess so that he can bring his secret and illegitimate younger sister into society. Knowing that Louisa’s approval is necessary, Hawk sets out to soften Louisa’s stance on his courtship of her charge. Of course, Hark is distracted by Louisa herself and is more attracted to her than the woman he’s supposed to be courting.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Harry Potter Fanfic: Sincerely Yours by LovesBitca8

Dramione, Post-War, multi-chapter, 40k words. This one is a super cute (and steamy) You’ve Got Mail retelling, with Hermione being the one opening a new apothecary names Foxglove and Belladonna and Draco with the long-standing family apothecary about to go out of business. They’ve been emailing back and forth as Jane and Nick for years without having met in person, but with the stress of workplace rivalry, they hope to take their online relationship further. LovesBitca8 has been one of my favorite Dramione fanfiction writers for years and we all now know her as published author Julie Soto. If you’ve enjoyed anything she’s written before, you’ll love this fic as well.

Read this fic on Archive of Our Own

Want more Harry Potter fanfic? Here’s a spreadsheet of my all-time favorites.

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