Weekly Reads: June 24 to 30, 2024

The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley (2021)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Wild Wynchesters series. The Wynchester orphans are really orphans now that their beloved adoptive father has passed away and they’re on a mission to recover a beloved painting that a crusty old duke had stolen right out of their homes. Except that duke has also passed away and his son, Lawrence, is the stuffiest most annoying guy of all, ignoring all letters and requests to meet from the scandalous Wynchesters. Chloe finds an opportunity to steal the painting from the duke’s almost-betrothed when it’s given as a courting gift, but accidentally kidnaps the duke in his carriage along the way. It’s a temporary mishap, worsened by the fact that the painting isn’t even the real one. Chloe needs to find even more excuses to get close to Lawrence to discover where the real painting is so they can steal it back. And then of course, Lawrence starts to realize he’s completely misjudged Chloe and starts to fall in love with her. It’s all complicated by the fact that he’s impoverished and needs to marry an heiress, Chloe is totally unsuitable, and she’s also keeping a secret about stealing that painting. This book was fun and chaotic and sweet and you will adore the crazy Wychester family.

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

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Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Super introverted and socially awkward Liz is tired of being overlooked by everyone in her life and she’s fed up with her husband both being a total pushover to everyone else in their lives and also not being a great communicator. It’s basically a co-dependent mess of terrible family members as Liz walks out of her birthday party held at her mother-in-law’s house (where someone has mistaken her for a server), next door to her own house, packs her stuff, and then goes three houses down to her childhood home where her single mother sister lives with a six-year old niece. Liz’s husband Tobin is the ultimate nice guy and life of the party and has his own issues of trying to be perfect so that people don’t leave him. Add on the fact that Liz is tired of being overlooked at work and somehow gets voluntold to take an improv class to help her social awkwardness. And then having no friends to practice her improv with, she ends up working with Tobin on various scenarios from a relationship self-help book that uses improv as a communication technique. This book is told from Liz’s point of view and you can definitely feel all the levels of anxiety she’s experiencing as she’s going through all of these uncomfortable situations. While this book was definitely emotional, I had a hard time relating to the lack of communication between Liz and Tobin, and both of their respective families are pretty much terrible and contributed to the downfall of their relationship. I was glad to see them work out their issues and communicate better, but they’d probably be better served moving away from their over-involved family members.

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

Not Just Any Earl by Anna Bradley (2021)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Games Earls Play series. After their mother causes a disastrous scandal, the Templeton sisters have been hiding in the country for many years. Their family friend somehow convinces Emmeline and Juliet to come to London for the Season, where Juliet will try to win the hand of the most eligible gentleman this year, Lord Melrose. Except Melrose is dreading making good on the assumption that he will marry some other darling debutante and follows who he believes is a former lover in the library during a ball. And unfortunately, he ends up with Emmeline instead, not knowing who she is, and being unable to identify her the next day having not seen her in the dark. Emmeline is afraid of causing any scandal for herself or her sister, so she keeps the encounter a secret, even as she’s trying to push the man towards her sister. At some point, he’ll realize that Emmeline is the one he can’t get out of his mind, but we get to see them slowly fall in love as themselves in the meantime.

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

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Odd Earl Out by Anna Bradley (2022)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Games Earls Play series. Super grumpy earl, Lord Cross, is throwing a hunting party at his lodge in the country trying to forget Miss Juliet Templeton. When she shows up at the party after a carriage accident, he wants very much for her to go away, but she needs his help cleaning up after a scandal of mistaken identity and he needs her help matchmaking his cousin. They bicker and banter and fight and flirt and they’re very clearly perfect for each other. But Cross needs to let go of his insecurity and belief that he’ll be as miserable as his father. Luckily, he’s got a chipper and cheery cousin to set him on the right path.

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

The Rake Mistake by Erica Ridley (2021)

Historical romance-adjacent. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Heist Club series, connected to the Wild Wynchesters series. Philippa leads a reading circle with her bluestocking friends and one them is entangled in a bit of scandal. Flirty friend Gracie has had an assignation with a rake who stole one of her hairpins and she needs to retrieve it before her reputation is ruined. Luckily, a couple of Wynchesters are part of the reading circle and take on the task of bringing the rogue down. This one is a super cute fun little caper that takes place before Book 2 of the Wild Wynchesters series.

Ebook purchased via Amazon.

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Fell in Love with an Earl by Anna Bradley (2022)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Games Earls Play series. Adrian has been an absentee father since his wife passed away and he’s spent the last six months getting drunk in London. Upon his return to his country estate, he finds an outspoken governess who he has never met and his wild sons who are hesitant around him. Helena is basically the best governess the boys have ever had and they never want her to leave, even though she’s at risk for dismissal for purely accidental reasons. While Adrian and Helena get off on the wrong foot, he slowly acknowledges that she is good with his sons and she slowly realizes that this is just a heartbroken man who is avoiding his responsibilities. I liked seeing Adrian slowly soften up his gruff demeanor and realize what is truly important in his life.

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

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Belvoir’s Library series. There are so many of my favorite of tropes blended into this delightful novel. Peter is a new duke who grew up in America and is now seeking custody of his younger half siblings. His friend Selina, the sister of yet another duke, is helping him improve his case by finding him a suitable candidate to marry. Except these two are actually more attracted to each other than anyone else and all of Peter’s courtships are comically bad. We get to see a series of terrible courting excursions and then ultimately Selina and Peter get caught in a compromising situation themselves and need to marry. Meanwhile, Selina has her own potential for scandal by owning and running a circulating library with a secret section of elicit texts. She’s trying very hard not to get caught at this, since it’ll ruin Peter’s custody case, but he’s amazingly supportive after she tells him her secrets. There are a fun cast of characters here with Selina’s loving and supportive family, Peter’s young siblings, and even the ladies that Selina had suggested for Peter. I enjoyed this book so much; it was full of humor, steam, and a low-angst romance.

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