Weekly Reads: June 17 to 23, 2024

A Simple Marriage by Janna MacGregor (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Millionaires of Mayfair series. All Pippa wants to do is own her own dress shop, but her overbearing duke of a brother won’t release her dowry. She plans to solicit a marriage of convenience to a gentleman her brother would likely approve of so she can get the money, but her brother’s best friend Hugh ends up intercepting the letters and her suitors. They bicker and argue and neither are interested in a marriage to each other, except for the fact that they’re attracted to each other. Actually, the attraction is why they don’t want to marry each other because Pippa is afraid that passion will lead to horrific arguments that she witnessed her parents having and Hugh is afraid that love will cause the immense grief that he witnessed his mother experiencing after his father died. Clearly, they’re both suffering from some generational trauma. Add in an overbearing brother/best friend, and we’ve got a recipe for forbidden romance. However, Hugh is very supportive of Pippa’s dress designing skill and business dreams, so he’s pretty much the perfect match for her.

Advance ebook provided by Janna MacGregor.

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The Mistress Experience by Scarlett Peckham (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Society of Sirens series. Renowned and exclusive courtesan Thaïs has auctioned off a month of her time to raise funds for her friends’ charity and is expecting to spend a month in the country with a dissolute rake. She’s surprised to find herself at a rustic cottage with a very straightlaced earl instead. Alastair is planning to take a wife this season and needs some lessons in the bedroom to ensure that he’s fulfilling his wife’s needs. He’s secretly hired Thaïs to help him be able to perform. Due to all sorts of insecurity and hang-ups and his overwhelming desire for her, Alastair is incredibly awkward and reserved. He clearly needs to have trust and an emotional connection to be open to any sort of physical activity and it takes quite some time to pull him out of his shell. Over this month in isolation, we get to see a steamy slow burn romance develop and these two people connect and let down their walls. The heartbreaking downside of course is that they’ll have to go back to reality and it’s not like this ever-proper earl could marry a courtesan. Or so he thinks.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

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Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase (2014)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Dressmakers series. Leonie and Simon, Marquess of Lisburne, have chance meeting after chance meeting, but somehow get entangled because Lisburne seems to be related to all the important folks of the week. Leonie’s mostly focused on trying to keep the dress shop afloat after her sisters are indisposed (one pregnant and ill and the other hiding in the country to deflect scandal). Lisburne is mostly trying to protect his soft-hearted poet of a cousin from scandal and can’t seem to stay away from Leonie, despite his better judgment. He even bets her that she won’t be able to transform another grumpy cousin into the belle of the ball, even though she is completely confident that she can. It was fun seeing these two scheme together, flirt, banter, and Lisburne completely and totally support Leonie’s business efforts. I enjoyed all the plotting and scheming against common foes and the development of the secondary romance in the background. Such a fun book.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Barely Even Friends by Mae Bennett (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Super cute and steamy Beauty and the Beast retelling. We’re off to a historic estate renovation with Bellamy who is in charge of the project because her father Maurice is ill and she finds a grumpy recluse Oliver there. Oliver is resistant to the renovation mostly because his grandfather is being overly controlling and also because he doesn’t want anyone in his house. But the house isn’t really his and he’s stuck doing whatever his grandfather has dictated. Bellamy is the ultimate sunshine full of ideas and energy to complete the project, and she wears these cute suspenders that Oliver is obsessed with. She’s also got some hang-ups related to relationships because her last guy was a total dud who told her that she’s not the kind of girl that sparks commitment. We get to see Bell and Oliver super slowly come to a truce, then friendship, then more. Absolutely delightful.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase (2015)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Dressmakers series. With all three of the dressmaking sisters paired off, we finally get the story of Lady Clara, the marquess’ daughter who had been the favored customer of the dress shop. She’s paired up here with a grumpy barrister, Oliver, known as Raven to everyone else. Clara calls on Raven’s help in searching for the younger brother of a girl she knows from the charity school, but it’s probably a lost cause as the boy likely fell into a bad crowd and a gang. But Raven is stupidly smitten with Clara and loses sense of logic in order to help her. We get to see them team up to solve the mystery, while also getting closer together along the way. There’s a lot of hesitance on Raven’s part since he sees himself as a lowly barrister, undeserving of Clara’s attentions. But she’s stubborn and goes after what she wants. There’s also some looming drama with Raven being third in line for a dukedom and also separately, the target of a thug assassin because he’s too good at his job of sending criminals to jail. High external drama, but low-angst on the romance.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Governess Gambit by Erica Ridley (2020)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Prequel novella to the Wild Wynchesters series. Introduction to the Wild Wynchesters family led by an eccentric baron who had adopted six orphans. Chloe was the first adoptee and known for blending in and not being noticed. Our family is working together to shut down a corrupt boarding school while caring for their ill father. Meanwhile, a dastardly duke has stolen their beloved painting and they’re struggling to get it back. While there isn’t a romance in this book, it sets up our beloved family dynamic and hints at what’s to come.

Ebook purchased via Amazon.

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