Weekly Reads: September 16 to 22, 2024

The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount by Vivienne Lorret (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Liars’ Club series. Gambling swindler pretends to be a viscount in order to blackmail his fake fiancee. A year ago, Honoria won the money in a card game that Oscar needed to pay off his violent creditor and runs off. Oscar tracks her down in her tiny country village and pretends to be the man that she’s betrothed to until he can convince her to give him the money. There’s all sorts of chaos and drama because Honoria’s family is quirky and meddlesome and Oscar’s not-family is not convinced of his identity and wants to get rid of him. But Oscar and Honoria spend more time together and are very much attracted to each other, and maybe Oscar is actually a good guy underneath all of the swindling behavior. Things get messier when it seems that someone is out to endanger Oscar’s life and Honoria is trying her best to protect him and get rid of him. Aside from all the chaos are the little clues that maybe Oscar might actually have a connection to the family that he’s pretending to be a part of, which I always love to see.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

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The Virgin Who Bewitched Lord Lymington by Anna Bradley (2021)

Historical romance. Georgian-era England. Book 4 of the Swooning Virgins Society series. Emma’s in disguise as the daughter of an earl to find out more information about the mysterious disappearance of several young women in the household of a marquess. The young and charming Viscount Lovell is the prime suspect, but Emma’s not sure that he’s the sinister type. Additionally, Lovell’s cousin Lord Lymington, Samuel, is super stern and protective and tries to warn the debutante Emma away from the man. But Emma’s keeping secrets and Samuel is a bit too perceptive and they’ve got that whole instant attraction thing going on. We get a fun mix of romance and mystery here as we slowly uncover what happened to those missing women. I definitely enjoyed this one and loved seeing it all come together.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine (2024)

Paranormal romance. Book 2 of the My Vampires series. Fun and hilarious story. Please don’t take this book too seriously. Amelia’s got a very pushy family that has made her resort to making up a fake boyfriend to bring to her cousin’s wedding. Luckily, she has just happened to run into a random stranger who owes her a favor. Reginald has major golden retriever vibes and he’s basically the best fake boyfriend ever, while Amelia totally thought he was joking about being a vampire. There’s a lot of comedic miscommunication here, but Amelia soon warms up to the idea of real-dating a real-vampire. We also get to revisit Frederick and Cassie from Book 1 and see where they are relationship-wise. Oh, and Reginald is sort of on the run from a group who is seeking vengeance for something that Reginald didn’t even do a hundred years ago.

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

Fate of the Sun King by Nisha J. Tuli (2024)

Fantasy romance. Book 3 of the Artefacts of Ouranos series. Lor and Nadir and all their merry band of siblings are on the move back to the Sun Palace to try to access the mirror there. This book tells us way more about the history of the Artefacts and how the goddess came to be. We also learn more about Atlas’ history and get to read a bunch of chapters from his head warder’s point of view. It’s a tangled mess of relationships and history and family through this book and super interesting. This one ends on a cliffhanger, so get prepared to have the fourth book ready.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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How Her Curves Won the West by Wynter Ryan (2024)

Historical romance. American West. Part of the Curves and Cravats series. Super quick novella. Like, a super small snack you can read in an hour. Annabelle runs the local boarding house with three of her friends (are they getting their own books?) and the town is trying to deter a criminal from hanging around. They decide to ask the local exiled grumpy duke for help and send Annabelle as the messenger. Sin’s been attracted to Annabelle since she arrived in town so he agrees to help her in exchange for three nights in bed with him. Well, that’s no sacrifice for her since she’s attracted to him too. It’s all a low-angst, quick resolution to the thug problem, followed by true love’s happily ever after.

Advance ebook provided by Wynter Ryan.

The Deed with the Duke by Sri Savita (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Part of the Cards of Passions series. Novella-length story of a property dispute that gets resolved fairly quickly. Raaz is looking for the deed to a beloved family cottage, shows up there, and finds it occupied by Camelia, who won the cottage in a card game. It all looks legal, so he concedes, but also sticks around to help her fix up the place. In doing so, they also decide on a temporary affair with each other, since they know anything more permanent won’t work since he’s a duke and she’s not duchess material. But they clearly connect on a much deeper level than just physical attraction, so they’re got to figure out how to make it work. For being such a short book, the connection and softness between the characters is impressive. Plus we get a delightful bathtub scene where they bare their secrets.

Advance ebook provided by Sri Savita.