Weekly Reads: October 30 to November 5, 2023

Six Degrees of Scandal by Caroline Linden (2016)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Scandalous series. This book starts with a heartbreaking prologue where Olivia and James meet as youths, are nearly engaged, and then Olivia is married off in exchange for money for her father’s debts. Ten years later, Olivia is widowed and being pursued by one of her late husband’s associates looking for smuggled treasure. When Olivia flees London to investigate a lead, she’s soon caught by James who vows to assist her and secure her safety. He’s been feeling guilty and regretful ever since he missed his chance to marry her all those years ago. We get these two partnering up to solve the mystery her late husband left behind and rekindling their lost love. Super interesting to uncover the mystery and see it tie back to characters from previous books in the series. And we eventually unmask the writer of the notoriously scandalous pamphlet that has been circulating in London.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Secret of My Seduction by Caroline Linden (2017)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4.5 of the Scandalous series. Quick novella here with Bathsheba asking for bedding lessons from Liam, the publisher of her anonymously penned naughty novels. Bathsheba is running out of ideas (and experience) for her books, so she figures some hand-on research is needed. While Liam tries to reject her at first, he soon realizes that he doesn’t want her turning to anyone else. As they spend more time together, Liam slowly realizes that he wants to keep Bathsheba in his life for good.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Project Duke by Mariah Stone (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Dukes and Secrets series. Lady Calliope has no interest in marriage since she’s so independent and outspoken and has goals of opening her own sleuth agency. However, when the dastardly marquess who hurt her many years ago announces his intentions to marry her, she needs to find a protector in short order. She’s hoping to gain the information to rescue her missing brother, but instead ends up entangled with Nathaniel, a handsome but impoverished duke. His late father has been trying to dictate his actions by withholding his inheritance until Nathaniel marries and provides an heir and time is running out. Nathaniel proposes a marriage of convenience to Calliope in exchange for assisting her find her brother. Although these two are very much attracted to each other, their personalities are completely ill-suited. Calliope is brash and independent and always getting herself into danger, while Nathaniel has emotional scars from being unable to protect his mother from danger and he wants to keep his new wife and sisters safe from harm. I found both characters a little irritating in their incapacity of empathizing with their partner’s stance. However, we slowly uncover more information about Calliope’s missing brother and continue to interact with her warm and loving family.

Advance ebook provided by Mariah Stone via BookSprout.

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Not the Duke You Marry by Jess Michaels (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Kent’s Row Duchesses series. With both of her widow friends married now, Bernadette is feeling lonely and undesirable. She expresses her interest in finding a lover to Theo, a childhood friend who she recently reconnected with. His aghast reaction makes her feel horribly rejected and insecure, but she rallies and finds her way to a pleasure club. When Theo spots her there, he tries to emphasize how dangerous her actions are, but really he just lusts after her himself and is conflicted about his feelings. These two go back and forth a bit, but end up having an affair, and try very hard not to fall in love with each other. Add in a backstory where Theo had long ago rejected a chance to marry Bernadette and we’re just waiting for her to be heartbroken by the revelation. Lots of steam and internal revelations in this one, without too much external drama.

Advance ebook provided by Jess Michaels via NetGalley.

Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale (2016)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series. The Cavendish family consists of a newly inherited duke and his three sisters, all new to England from America. They’ve all been taken under the wing of their aunt and duchess, learning all the stuffy rules of society. Bridget is the middle sister who seems to want to embrace the rules and try to fit in so that she isn’t mocked so easily. At her first ball, she meets the charming and handsome Rupert and his super stuffy and cold older brother Darcy. While it seems that Bridget and Rupert are headed towards courtship, Darcy is the one who cannot stop staring at and thinking about Bridget. Nevermind that he’s almost engaged to the ton’s latest mean girl, Francesca, who tries to disparage Bridget at every instance. While there’s a lot of chaos with the unconventional Cavendish family, we get to see the bickering relationship between Bridget and Darcy turn into something more. This book was a lot of fun to read, with all its parallels to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Earl I Want for Christmas by Colleen Kelly (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novella. Soon-to-be spinster Lydia is contemplating accepting a proposal from her latest suitor, the local vicar. When her dashing and rakish neighbor Gabriel returns to his estate, she is distracted by the memory of her first kiss with him six years prior. Before committing herself to a boring marriage with the vicar, she proposes an affair with Gabriel to experience passion while she has the chance. Gabriel is definitely not marriage material after being spurned by his previous fiance but he does intend to follow through with Lydia’s demands. While their affair is definitely very steamy and their expectations are made clear up front, we also get to see the honorable side of Gabriel as he interacts with others in town along with the care and tenderness he shows Lydia. Quick to read, with lots of spice and heart.

Advance ebook provided by Colleen Kelly

Get the ebook from the author’s website.

The Phantom of Drury Lane by Kate Bateman (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Scandals and Scoundrels of Drury Lane series. Lucy has recently returned to London after traveling extensively with her family and is quickly met by Will, her childhood crush and brother’s friend who soundly rejected her after a kiss five years ago. While sharing the latest gossip with her, Will challenges Lucy to unmask the mysterious Phantom who sits in a private box at the theater. Since Lucy loves a challenge, she agrees to the scheme. In the course of her investigation, she and Will spend more time together and she is reminded of her past feelings for him. It’s interesting to read about Will’s perspective of the long ago kiss as well, since he was the one who broke Lucy’s heart. And since this is a fairly quick novella, we can pretty much guess who the Phantom is and see how it plays into Will’s determination to win Lucy’s affections.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard (2023)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Taming of the Dukes series. Lots of banter and bickering here between Vesper (daughter of a duke) and Aspen (the duke next door and former childhood friend). Somehow these two had a falling out as teenagers, grew apart, and then Aspen spurned Vesper at her debut ball. Now it’s many years later, Aspen has been off looking for fossils and back in England to deal with his wretched mother. Despite multiple offers of marriage, Vesper is still unwed and ruling society with her perfect poise. Aspen believes Vesper to be a spoiled society miss and tries to avoid her, even though he needs her help in preparing his mother’s ward for the Season. Despite Vesper’s outward appearance and reputation, she’s still the same outspoken and fiery lady she’s always been in the presence of her trusted friends. There’s a lot of push-and-pull between Aspen and Vesper as they fight, and kiss, and push each other away.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley. Advance print book provided by Forever Books.

It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Liar’s Club series. Verity is the oddball of her family, being sensible and plain, rather than an outrageous actor. Faced with an embarrassing situation with her catty neighbor, she makes up a lie that she’s engaged to a duke. When Magnus hears a rumor about this from the father of the heiress he means to marry, he hastens to the village where Verity lives to settle this issue. Magnus and Verity are longstanding family rivals from a time when Magnus’ father lost a lot of money in an investment and Magnus has blamed Verity’s father for the swindle. He definitely does not want to be associated with Verity or her family, but he seems to need to rescue her from her own clumsiness and daring. He’s also annoying stiff and proper and sometimes even mean to her. Of course, he’s only mean to her because he’s attracted to her when he doesn’t want to be. They continue a temporary fake engagement so that he doesn’t appear outwardly cruel, and he slowly starts to soften towards her. There’s definitely a lot of grudge-holding and angry bickering in this story, so it’s interesting to see how these two find common ground.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.