Weekly Reads: August 5 to 11, 2024

In Pursuit of a Christmas Bride by Rebecca Paula (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Prequel novella to the Society of Scandalous Brides series. Fairly quick novella here where stuffy solicitor, Henry, meets a woman at a masquerade and never sees her again. And then it turns out that Henry has inherited an earldom and is busy with all his new responsibilities. Tilly is an actress at the theater who is being coerced by her stage manager to comply with all his demands so that he doesn’t reveal her scandalous secret. Tilly and Henry end up at the same Christmas house party and in the stormy weather, they get a few days without other guests around. They rekindle their acquaintance here and quickly fall in love, despite being all wrong for each other from a practical perspective. Easy fluffy read.

Advance ebook provided by Rebecca Paula via BookSirens.

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The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen (2024)

Fantasy romance. Book 2 of the Hart and Mercy series. Twyla and Frank are best friends and neighbors and work together as marshals, who don’t have too much to do now that a big bad threat was eliminated at the end of Book 1. But they’re on their way to solving a new mystery involving dragons in the Tanria mist, plus finally dealing with their feelings for each other. Or realizing that there are feelings beyond friendship. The whole book is told from Twyla’s point of view as she’s grappling with her unappreciative adult children, dealing with her own middle-aged insecurity, and exploring the possibility of dating again. While Frank seems dismissive of her dating, she doesn’t know if he’s disgusted by the idea of someone dating her (unlikely) or jealous (more likely, but she doesn’t know it). After getting my head around the world-building aspects within Book 1, I was able to enjoy the story, the adventure, and the side characters even more in this one. Loved it.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Libro.fm.

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Errands & Espionage by Sam Tschida (2024)

Contemporary romance-adjacent. (It’s mostly an adventure comedy) Standalone novel. This one is super funny. It’s very light on the romance, so don’t go in expecting it to be a regular romance novel. Basically, Gabby is a struggling divorced stay-at-home mom who gets recruited to some spy business because she looks just like the last agent who was killed and did not finish her assignment. She’s going in and pretending to be an executive assistant, which she does not actually know how to do. And she’s very bad at being a spy. It’s a huge comedy of errors, plus she’s got a wacky best friend to add to the humor. Loved it. Super fun.

Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.

Bred by the Orc by Veronika Kane (2024)

Historical fantasy romance. Medieval Scotland. Super short steamy novella. Drakolt is an orc who’s out to find his mate, so he goes to kidnap some laird’s daughter, Sorcha, with the help of his clanmates. Sorcha is indignant and resistant at first, but she feels the pull of attraction towards Drakolt and he seems to be treating her well through their horseback journey back to his village. And he definitely seems to be prioritizing her wellbeing and pleasure, unlike the human men she’s familiar with. Light, easy, steamy read.

Advance ebook provided by Veronika Kane.

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone romance. Ember’s tired of being poor and overlooked in the job search, so she embellishes a little (or a lot) on her resume. She gets the job (yay) but continues to tell little white lies to all her co-workers, including one very handsome Danuwoa, who she isn’t allowed to date per company policy. This book is a lot of Ember learning to adapt in her new corporate world and Danuwoa being the very best supportive co-worker/friend/crush. While we get to see the super cute romance develop, we’re still a little wary of the potential fallout from all her lies. Ember is delightfully awkward and funny in the best ways. The workplace drama and humor in this book reminds me of Ali Hazelwood’s books.

Ebook received via Goodreads Giveaway. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm.

In the Prince’s Bed by Sabrina Jeffries (2004)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Royal Brotherhood series. Recently inherited earl Alec needs to marry an heiress and decides to seduce Katherine into marrying him. Alec has a semi-tragic backstory being the bastard son of a countess and the Prince Regent, but his mother was married to an earl, so Alec is legitimately the earl’s heir. His “father” hated him his whole life, so Alec has spent most of his time abroad. Upon his return, he finds his estate totally impoverished and he needs some money fast. He enlists the help of his two half-brothers (also sons of the Prince) so that he can woo his way to an advantageous marriage. Katherine is set to inherit a fortune of her own upon her marriage, but she’s hung up on her friend and almost-but-not-quite fiance. Alec tries to convince Katherine to spend more time with him by saying they can scheme to make this other guy jealous. She goes for the ruse, but the whole thing is a mess of lying and deception, and then they fall in love for real (except for all that lying that’s hanging over their heads). The friend and not-fiancee has his own little side story too, and hopefully we get to see that resolved in a later book.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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A Lady’s Curves by A.S. Fenichel (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Part of the Curves and Cravats series. Fairly quick and low-angst novella. Oscar has been a socially awkward negligent earl and his steward has run away with some money and a maid, so he needs to hire a new one without word getting out about his incompetence. He hires Ann, who is an ultra-competent spinster governess from an agency and she cleans up his books and his mood. He’s been attracted to her since day one, making him even more socially inept, but I guess he finally learns to flirt and makes his move. Quick, easy read.

Advance ebook provided by A.S. Fenichel.