Weekly Reads: July 15 to 21, 2024

Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers (2023)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Five Deadly Sins series. Lady Tamsin is the scandalous sister of an earl who is known for breaking the nose of a duke’s son for unwanted advances, but also rumored to be as loose as her actress of a mother. She’s just trying to catch some fresh air in the garden at a ball, when the lumbering awkward Hayden tries to capture a moth that landed on her leg. While a vicious harpy tries to paint Tamsin as a harlot, Hayden’s ducal authoritativeness comes to the rescue. After that, they all try to mitigate the scandal by portraying Tamsin and Hayden as intellectual friends who will part ways after a few social outings. What’s fun to see here is Hayden’s absolute awkwardness in Tamsin’s presence because he’s so internally attracted to her. And of course she interprets his behavior as arrogance and disdain. Even when he finally gets a clue and tries to pursue her, all she sees from him is insult. It was surprisingly heartbreaking for a premise that seemed so simple.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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My Rogue to Ruin by Erica Ridley (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Wild Wynchesters series. Quiet artist sister Marjorie has her turn to take the lead on a case this time. When the Wynchesters find that a crime lord is passing counterfeit coins through his pawn shop, they aim to find the counterfeiter and bring about justice. Marjorie insists on infiltrating the workshop to find the evidence and solve the case, but she finds a charming lord there instead. Adrian is the second son of a marquess who was banished from his family home many years ago and made his money by counterfeiting artistic artifacts; when he’s caught at that, the crime lord blackmails him into counterfeiting money instead. He’s pretty much held captive, even though he feels horrible cheating innocent people out of money. While Marjorie and Adrian are at odds in the beginning, they soon realize they have a lot in common, and need to team up to get out of this mess. Adrian gets to witness firsthand the benefits of a loving family and find allies in all the Wynchesters. The romance here was easy and low-angst and the crime-solving caper was a lot of fun.

Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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Hate to Fake It to You by Amanda Sellet (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Everyone is hiding their identity and keeping secrets in this mostly comedic romance. Libby is an underworked underpaid waitress and wannabe journalist who is a very successful fake influencer Lillibet who writes the cheesiest posts paired with what seems like stock photography. And it’ll probably all come crashing down when she has to fake it all in real life with her trusty friends and a fake husband and a fancy house she definitely doesn’t live in when media heiress Hildy comes for a visit. Hildy wants to start her own magazine and needs a collaborator, so she thinks Lillibet would be a great fit. Meanwhile, she’s got her own ruse going with her fake boyfriend, Jefferson, who is a wildlife photography who saved her from a snowstorm. It’s a set up for absolute chaos when everyone is staying at this fancy house with the fanciest plumbing available, and Libby’s friend is pretending to be an Irish housekeeper who has a terrible accent. Oh, and Libby and Jefferson maybe kinda sorta have an instant connection. The romance here is slow moving and a little fraught, since they’re all lying about so many things, but most of the book is quite entertaining. Heads up, that this one is fade to black when our couple does finally get together.

Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. How much heartbreak can you pack into a romance novel? Turns out a lot. Especially for this messy and complicated second chance romance. Georgia and Eli have been best friends for years, gone through a horrible breakup, and now stuck together to help their mutual best friend rescue his disaster of a wedding. Both Georgia and Eli have very deeply rooted anxieties and insecurities that make them both understand each other and also resist directly asking for what they need. We get to see all of Georgia’s emotions through her weeklong whirlwind planning session with Eli, while also dealing with a potential new job situation and her feeling abandoned by all her friends. While it’s fairly obvious why these two broke up in the first place, there’s still a whole lot of insecurity and fear of trying again. The plot seems straightforward enough without a whole lot of external drama, but the internal emotional turmoil is present in every scene. Be prepared for an emotional gut punch.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song (2024)

Fantasy. Book 1 of the Night Ends with Fire series. Mulan-retelling with lots of twists. Meilin is living in a patriarchal society where her opium-addicted abusive father is dodging the draft, the emperor imprisons anyone who believes in magic, and she’s about to be sold off to an abusive husband. Luckily, she’s lacking in womanly curves, so she joins the army instead. There’s tons of action packed into this story as we join the army training camp, start fighting the enemy, and then get influenced by rare spirit magic that only touches a select few people. There are romantic love interests on both sides of the war and lots of political intrigue and maneuvering. This book kept me reading to find out more and to see how Meilin continues to survive her harrowing circumstances. We definitely end on an unresolved note and I’m definitely looking forward to Book 2.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Hot Earl Summer by Erica Ridley (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Wild Wynchesters series. It’s Elizabeth’s turn to take the lead on a case, putting her in the countryside to look for the missing will of a countess in an earl’s castle. Instead of finding the earl there, she finds his tinkering cousin, Stephen. We get a grumpy-grumpy romance in this one with both Elizabeth and Stephen preferring solitude to company. It’s fun to see them work together to try to find the missing will, plus I liked seeing Elizabeth being appreciative of Stephen’s inventions instead of disparaging his oddness. There’s a common annoying villain around who believes he won the castle in a card game, but once they find the will, it’ll be clear the property wouldn’t be his. Plus, we get a full family of Wynchester showing up for the big confrontation.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.