Weekly Reads: December 23 to 29, 2024

The Gentleman Was Right by Britt Belle (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Greydon series. Younger brother to an earl, Edward is feeling pretty purposeless after his brother comes back to the family estate. He’s happy to have the chance to do something useful, so he goes to investigate increased expenditures at his brother’s seaside cottage. When he gets there, Violet and her sister have been pretending to be family cousins and staying there to avoid her fiance. The ever-helpful Edward quickly offers marriage as a solution and gets soundly rejected. It’s clear that Edward is smitten and hopes that true affection and love with develop, but Violet is exceedingly wary after the betrayal from her fiance. We eventually end up with a fairly straightforward marriage of convenience plot with Edward trying his best to win Violet over and Violet doing her best to avoid engaging any feelings. Predictable but enjoyable read.

Advance ebook provided by Britt Belle.

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

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera (2022)

Historical romance. Victorian-era France and Scotland. Book 1 of the Las Leonas series. Luz Alana is the daughter and heiress to a rum distillery and trying to expand her business during the World’s Fair in Paris. She exchanges barbs with Evan, a whiskey distiller, who is sharing her space at the exposition. Luz has prioritized her responsibilities to her younger sister and her rum business, and has little to no time for frivolity, despite Evan’s handsomeness. Evan is the heir apparent to a cruel and horrible duke and is working on seeking revenge and the proper ownership of the deed to his own whiskey distillery. When they both realize that their inheritances are tied up in marriage stipulations, they enter into a marriage of convenience (with benefits). This book was steamy and emotional, and we all love Evan’s support of Luz’ business endeavors. Excellent read.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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

My Inconvenient Duke by Loretta Chase (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Difficult Dukes series. We start with Alice being terrified that her idiot brother will be killed sometime soon, so she sets off to find a husband this season, to make sure she’s never at the mercy of her cruel cousin. Her brother’s best friend, the Duke of Blackwood, is all sorts of distressed at the thought of Alice marrying anyone else, even though he has no claim to her. He clearly is nursing a long time affection for her, despite having chosen a lifetime of debauchery with his friends instead of the upstanding life he could have had with her. And when Blackwood hears that Alice’s terrible cousin is in town, he tries his best to protect her. We end up with a wild goose chase in the middle of the book that have Blackwood and Alice in a compromising circumstance and needing to marry. While this seems like the beginning of a happily ever after for them, they get pulled in different directions due to their competing responsibilities. As a standalone read, this book was fine. As a follow-up after the first two books, it fell a little flat because all the hints from the first two books suggest that these two are officially estranged. We learn more about this so-called estrangement in this book and do eventually end up with a happily ever after, but it was much less dramatic than I expected.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.