Weekly Reads: July 29 to August 4, 2024

Sinfully Wanton by Kathleen Ayers (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Five Deadly Sins series. This one is your classic feisty young lady paired with her older brother’s best friend. Aurora is in her second season of the marriage mart, devastatingly attracted to her brother’s friend Worth, who has basically been ignoring her since her debut. That’s because he’s also attracted to her, knows it’s dangerous, and has his own tragic backstory of heartbreak and distrust of women. Somewhere along the way, Aurora asks for lessons in pleasure, which Worth refuses until he doesn’t. It’s all steamy and flirtatious and we also get a fun side romance for our dear chaperone Aunt Lottie. It’s a great conclusion to this series and I enjoyed it a lot!

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org // Available on Kindle Unlimited // Get a free trial to Kindle Unlimited

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Excellent set-up and narrated by one of my favorite audiobook narrators, Natalie Naudus. We have a single POV novel with June having been dumped on national TV, turned into a meme, and now dealing with her struggling tea shop on a beachy boardwalk. She runs into childhood friend Levi, who has also been virally dumped recently, and somehow they get caught up on a social media storm calling them the Revenge Exes. They decide to awkwardly follow through with some fake dating so that June can get more customers in her store and Levi can show his ex-fiancee what she’s missing. It’s messy and complicated, especially when we factor in June’s teenage crush on Levi, and his rejection and radio silence for the past ten years. We also get a fun cast of supporting characters in the form of June’s brother, his fiancee, and another one of June’s best friends. This book is funny and sweet and cute and steamy and emotional, all in one.

Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

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

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen (2022)

Fantasy romance. Book 1 of the Hart and Mercy series. In a world where dead bodies are plentiful, Mercy is an overburdened undertaker running the family business, but she loves the job, even though her family thinks that she deserves something more or different or free. She does not get along with one of the local marshals, Hart, who often comes to bring her bodies. He’s got his own issues with being a loner demigod who is uncertain of his own mortality. While it took me awhile to get a mental grasp of the world-building, the animosity between Hart and Mercy (despite their internal physical attraction) is universal. And when they accidentally become anonymous pen pals, things turn more familiar with very clear You’ve Got Mail retelling beats. I loved meeting the full cast of supporting characters and the side romance between Mercy’s brother and Hart’s apprentice. Great intro to the series and looking forward to reading the next one.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

An Heiress for August by Kathleen Ayers (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 8 of the Rake Review series. Fairly quick read and another great addition to this series. August and Hazel meet as children one Summer, when August is the bullying nephew of a duke and Hazel is a mere draper’s daughter. They get into a scuffle and the outspoken unladylike Hazel is the one cast out of town. Many years later, August has inherited an impoverished estate from his cousin and needs to marry an heiress. He doesn’t realize that the girl he bullied as a child is the very heiress he needs to impress. However, he’s grown into a very handsome man and Hazel is attracted to him, despite her better judgment. It’s bickering and flirting and seduction here as he’s got ulterior motives for wooing her. Surprisingly emotional for being such a short book and I really enjoyed it.

Advance ebook provided by Kathleen Ayers

Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent (2023)

Fantasy romance. Part of the Crowns of Nyaxia series. This one is a detour from the Nightborn duology where we meet Vale and Lilith. Vale is an army general hiding out for the past 200 years when his subgroup of vampires fell out of command. Lilith is a dying human trying to find a cure for some plague that is affecting her village. She’s somewhat of a scientist and wonders if vampire blood could be distilled and used as medicine. She makes a bargain with Vale for the blood and over the course of a few months, they develop a friendship and more. This one is a fairly quick read and I loved seeing both Vale and Lilith defend each other as needed. It also helps us understand these characters a lot better when we see them again in The Ashes and the Star-Crossed King.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent (2023)

Fantasy romance. Book 2 of the Crowns of Nyaxia series. This book picks up immediately where the Book 1 leaves off with a new Raihn as the new kind and Oraya feeling all sorts of betrayed. We get all sorts of political jockeying here with vampires who see Raihn as below them and some other House trying to take control. Everyone’s playing all sorts of different parts and Oraya is busy spending most of the book being mad at Raihn. Rightly so, but I wanted them to make up and team up to take down their common enemies together. We get to learn way more about Oraya’s past and the secrets that her father had kept from her and find some new allies along the way. Intriguing story that kept me reading.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

A Lady of Conscience by Mimi Matthews (2024)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 5 of the Somerset Stories series. Fairly quick read of a romance we’ve seen hinted at earlier in the series. James is the serious and relatively gruff viscount who keeps very rigid control of his emotions in an effort to rehabilitate his family name from scandal. He’s looking to marry someone of higher social standing to improve his own, but is drawn to the quiet and shy Hannah instead. Hannah is the daughter of a retired army captain who is known for advocating for animals and wishes to find a peaceful life in the country with a husband who loves her. While she’s drawn to James, she knows that a match between them would be ill-suited. She’s pretty shocked when he pays her attention and refuses his first bumbling marriage proposal. I liked seeing James receiving a set-down from Hannah and his parents for messing up his nonexistent courtship. I also liked seeing him try again for a second shot and courting her much more earnestly.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org

Season of Love by Helena Greer (2022)

Contemporary romance. Book 1 of the Carrigan’s Christmasland series. Miriam and Noelle are both respectively messes with a huge amount of baggage and trauma, but they find their way together at their beloved Christmas tree farm. When Miriam’s great-aunt Cass dies, she leave the running of the farm and Christmasland to her four fave protegees: Miriam, her cousin Hannah, absentee friend Levi, and new addition Noelle. Everyone is somewhat resentful of Miriam who has not been around for the past decade (dealing with her own family issues), especially Noelle, who is especially sensitive to people leaving. And we also find out that the farm is in poor financial shape and needs to be saved. The story here is messy and emotional and endearing all at once and I’m definitely excited to read more about this ensemble of characters.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.