Category: Romance

by Olivia Drake, Pub Date 7/27/2021

3.5 Stars.

Tessa James dreams of owning her own millinery shop where she can create beautiful hats for her patrons and not the monstrosities that she helps with at Madame Blanchet’s. However, when she and Blanchet have a falling out, she must come up with a different way to make her dream come true. She hears of a position in the Duke of Carlin’s home as a governess to his unruly 5 year old daughter, Lady Sophy. Lucky for Tessa, she knows how to handle young girls with difficult temperaments. Perhaps she can use this opportunity to find her father, who appears to be of noble blood, and demand a loan from him. However, first she needs to tell a few white lies in order to convince the Duke to hire her on.

Guy Whitby has just returned from four years traveling the world collecting botanical samples after the death of his late wife, a trip cut short by the passing of the previous Duke of Carlin. Since his return and subsequent adjustment to his position, he has gone through many, many governesses due to his daughter’s temperament. When Miss James shows up to apply for the position, he is reluctant to hire the pretty miss who doesn’t seem to have any references to speak of. However, hearing her tale, he decides to give her a chance.

As Sophy takes to Tessa, Guy finds himself taking to her as well. She is unlike the usual women who travel in his circles of society and she lights up when he talks to her of his travels. As they strain against their obvious chemistry, events turn dangerous as a thief destroys Guy’s study in the middle of the night. Tessa and Guy find themselves in an interesting position as truths are revealed and the Carlin Curse appears to become a real possibility. Can Guy and Tessa figure out what’s really going on before everything is upended? Or will they find themselves permanently unrequited?

I enjoyed this read. It had many delicious passionate scenes and plenty of intrigue. However, there were a couple of loose ends and the perspective seemed to change from paragraph to paragraph. The ending, although somewhat satisfying, felt very rushed and unfinished. I would have liked a little more detail or an epilogue. Nonetheless, it was a fun ride!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

By Susanna Craig. Pub Date April 6, 2021

***** 5 Stars. Best enjoyed outdoors in the garden or curled up in your library.

I think Susanna Craig is going to be a part of my auto-buy list from now on!

Amanda Bartlett, the young widowed Countess of Kingston, has been living a dull life up until the day she brings home a package that is supposed to be a gift for her son, but turns out to be a cryptic French cookbook. This cookbook turns out to be of some interest to British intelligence.

Enter Major Langley Stanhope, aka The Magpie, a master mimic in the spy game. Stanhope is sent to retrieve the mysterious volume from Amanda, which could lead to the recovery of a fellow missing spy. However, when the volume goes missing, Stanhope and Amanda find themselves in a rather dangerous situation and Stanhope must use all his skills to keep Amanda, her family, and himself from the enemies that would do whatever they can to get it back.

As the danger grows and Amanda and Stanhope work together, they find that their hearts may be on the line as well.

I absolutely LOVED this book! The first in this series was great as well, but I honestly thought this one was even better. I am so excited for the next book in the Love & Let Spy collection!

The characters were very well thought out and the setting jumped straight from the page. I found myself very emotionally invested in the couple and the fate of Amanda’s children at the hands of their appointed male guardian, a boring man whose eyes were also set on Amanda and who was a huge part of the conflict.

Seriously, Craig, I am sincerely looking forward to the next installment!

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the advanced copy in exchange for this fair and honest review.

By Susanna Craig Pub Date Aug 8, 2020.

Four Stars****, Best Enjoyed when…well, whenever!

Thomas Sutherland, a spy for the British Army, comes home to settle the matter of an inheritance. He has no real intention of leaving his position and wishes to return to the life he is used to as quickly as possible. That is until his superior officer makes it clear that he must do his domestic duties before he will be allowed to resume his place. As it turns out, Sutherland’s inheritance is that of the entirety of the Scottish village he spent his summers in as a child, including Dunnock Castle. His plan is to quickly set the place up, find someone who can properly run the land, and head back to the foreign lands he’s spent most of his life in. Luckily, it appears that a famous author has already taken up residence in the castle and may have a secretary who can do just that for him. However, when he appears on the doorstep of his new found seat, he discovers that the secretary he thought was a man is not only decided NOT male, but is also a widowed woman, and the one he fell in love with before he took his foreign commission! This may be harder than he thought…

Ms. Jayne Quayle has lived under the guise of widowed Mrs. Higginbotham for the past six years, acting as a amanuensis to the popular and reclusive gothic novelist, Robin Ratliff. Well, that’s what she wants people to think. She’s neither a widow, nor just a simple copy editor, but the author him-well, her-self. This precarious tower of deception has kept her hidden and independent for many years. That is, until the whole guise is threatened when a certain handsome soldier she once had feelings for turns up on the doorstep of Dunnock Castle where she has been living. However, when death threats against Mr. Ratliff start to show up in the mail, Thomas feels the need to protect Jayne, and Jayne feels a passion stirring in her that she hasn’t felt in years. At the risk of toppling everything they both have at stake, they band together to find out who is threatening Robin Ratliff, while trying to protect their secrets. Someone should have also reminded them to protect their hearts.

I really truly loved this book. I could practically see the setting in the misty, cold Scottish Highlands. The characters were well-rounded. The only thing that slightly bothered me was when the author described Thomas as slipping into a deep brogue and it felt a little forced and over used. However, I truly loved Jayne. I also loved seeing a smart and creative BBW in the lead role of a romance novel.

I’m a true sucker for regency era spy romances and this delivered in spades. The quaint town, all of the side characters, and even the secret underlying plot that encapsulates the series is a bit of a mysterious delight. I’m honestly excited for the next one. Plus, look at that cover and the title! So cute!

Thank you Kensington books and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. Kensington always seems to deliver exactly what I need.

By Sabrina Jeffries, pub date Aug 25, 2020

4 Stars. Best enjoyed by one’s self–just trust me on this…

Marlow “Thorn” Drake, Duke of Thornstock, had met Miss Olivia Norley far before his brother Grey hired her on as a chemist to test his late father’s remains. Her face is burned into his memory from a scandously shared kiss many years before, when he first came back from England. That kiss changed his life in more ways than one, and not in a good way. With the sour memories turning themselves over in his head, he is convinced that this beautiful bluestocking is up to something besides stoking the fire in him…

Miss Olivia Norley, a bookish science-minded woman, also remembers that kiss with Thorn, and the denied marriage proposal thereafter. She never could figure out why he acted so very coldly toward her the next day or why he came to offer in the first place. Although that evening played over and over in her head for years after it happened, she can’t let that get in the way of the one chance she has to make herself a name in the science community amongst her Uncle’s peers–regardless of the very real chemical reaction reigniting between Thorn, now a rake of the first order, and herself.

Will Thorn and Olivia give in to the the draw they feel toward one another, or will their past and their secrets continue to keep them at arm’s length?

This is a delightful bodice-ripper romance rife with secrets, murder, misunderstandings, and plenty of compromising content! I really love a good Edwardian romance and the one was the perfect thing to get me out of a reading slump. Olivia is a smart and logical person who wants nothing more but to make a name for herself in the science community and is fiercely driven to do so. At first, she approaches Thorn’s advances as experiments as she has no misgivings about his lusty intentions. Despite Thorn’s better judgement and suspicions of this woman who once spurned his marriage proposal, he has an undeniable attraction to her. This book contains a good dose of mystery, a healthy heaping of folly, and enough heat to light a bunsen burner!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the advanced galley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ❤