Category Archives: Romance

2014 – Book #15

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Contemporary romance, Tumble Creek series by

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The fifteenth book I finished in 2014 was Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl. I finished this book on 3/13/14 (only by a technicality since I finished it at 12:09AM). I rated this book 2.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This is the third book in the Tumble Creek series by this author, I read the first two previously (See 2014-Book #5 for discussion of the 2nd book in the series, the first in the series I read in 2013).

This story is about prim and proper secretary Jane Morgan (Jane is secretary to architect Quinn Jennings who was the hero in book #2 of the series, Start Me Up). Jane is trying to hide from her shady past and has completely change her appearance and personality so that no one who sees her would recognize the angry and wild girl she once was. And Chase is exactly the kind of guy she’s trying to avoid, a bad boy with tattoos and a disarmingly charming grin. But as Jane has to face a serious family crisis, she finds herself relying more and more on Chase despite her efforts not to.

This was a very steamy novel, to warn readers its actually a steamy series I should say. And to be honest (and I had this same issue with the second book in the series) the heroine in this story is awfully mean to the hero. The heroine has so many personal issues with herself and who she is and she basically makes the hero feel like trash and uses him for sex. While the story had a sweet ending and I find it admirable that the hero stuck around through all that and was obviously devoted to the heroine, I hate thinking that you can treat someone you supposedly love that badly and hurt them that much. That was disheartening for me and I think biased my opinion over the rest of the story.

Link to author website: http://www.victoriadahl.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lead-Me-On-Victoria-Dahl-ebook/dp/B009NEERG2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1394725034&sr=8-5&keywords=lead+me+on

2014 – Book #14

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance by

ImageThe fourteenth book I finished in 2014 was Heartstrings and Diamond Rings by Jane Graves. I finished this book on 3/11/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This was the first book I’ve read by this author.

This novel is about a woman who has been extremely unlucky in love and decides to try using a matchmaker. Her biological clock is ticking loudly and she’s in a rush to find her perfect mate and get to the altar before its too late (hey that rhymed!). When she goes to have a meeting with her new matchmaker, she encounters a man to her utter shock. Despite her initial panic she decides to give him a chance and what ensues is a fantastic romantic comedy.

I enjoyed reading this novel and found it to be of similar humor to Kristan Higgins, one of my favorite authors from a previous post. Also similarly, this story made me laugh out loud as well as brought me to tears, a telltale mark of an enjoyable book for me. I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future.

Link to author website: http://www.janegraves.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Heartstrings-Diamond-Rings-Jane-Graves/dp/0446568481/ref=la_B001H9VXT0_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394554583&sr=1-8

2014 – Book #13

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Historical Romance by

ImageThe thirteenth book I finished in 2014 was The Truth About Love by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 3/9/14. This is the 12th book in the Cynster family series which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5.

This story is about Gerrard Debbington (brother of Patience from the 2nd book in the Cynster family series). One of the things that I love about the Cynster family series is that characters can be introduced far before they star in their own novel. When we were first introduced to Gerrard (in A Rake’s Vow, the story of Vane and Patience), Gerrard assisted Vane in discovering who was stealing items from his aunt’s house party guests. Gerrard was charming and still then a boy and it was hard not to see his devotion to his sister Patience. Now starring in his own novel, Gerrard is a well-respected painter and the uncle to Patience and Vane’s 4 children. Gerrard is commissioned to paint a  portrait of Lord Tregonning’s daughter. At first he refuses, but Tregonning’s promise to give him access to his famous gardens are too tempting an offer for his painter’s soul to refuse.

Upon arriving at Hellebore Hall however, he discovers that this is not to be any ordinary portrait. Lord Tregonning’s daughter, Jacqueline, has been accused of murdering her mother and the portrait has been commissioned in the hope that in it her father would see the truth of either her guilt or innocence. As Gerrard gets to know Jacqueline, at first in order to portray her accurately and then because he can not resist her, he realizes that the real murderer is still among them. He enlists the help of his friend, Barnaby Adair (a character discussed in my earlier blog post “2014 – Book #10”) to help him solve the mystery.

One of the things that I enjoyed most about this novel was the gardens of Hellebore Hall. The gardens are well known and are extensive. There are multiple sections to the gardens, each one portraying a different Greek or Roman god. The description of the gardens was riveting, I would have loved to see such a garden in real life. The author drew up a rough sketch of the garden’s outline so reader’s can easily follow the discussions of the gardens throughout the book.

ImageThe plot was very well-paced and I was riveted throughout. Overall this was an excellent book and I would recommend to any reader!

Link to author website: http://www.stephanielaurens.com

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Love-Cynster-Novels/dp/0060505761/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394403365&sr=8-3&keywords=the+truth+about+love

2014 – Book #12

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Historical Romance by

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The twelfth book I finished in 2014 was The Ideal Bride by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 3/6/14. This is the 11th book in the Cynster family series which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of 5.

This story is about Michael Anstruther-Wetherby (brother of the Duchess of St. Ives, Honoria, from the 1st book in the Cynster family series). Michael has political aspirations and has been told in order to be promoted he should look for a suitable bride. He sets his sights on a young woman, the daughter of one of his neighbors, whom he thought was his ideal bride. The young woman’s aunt (Caro, short for Caroline) decides to intervene and prevent her niece from the same fate that she had been dealt, a loveless political marriage. While steering Michael away from her niece, Caro fails to realize until it is too late that Michael has already realized he and the niece would not suit and instead has turned his full attentions on Caro.

Another thing that Caro doesn’t realize until its almost too late is that something is trying to harm her. Repeated attempts on her life have convinced Michael that someone is trying to kill her, but to Caro they all seem to be accidents.

This book was very well written, as many of Laurens’ books are, and the characters are well-developed and draw emotion from the reader. While I didn’t find this story to be quite as touching as some of her other novels, it was still an excellent read and a great addition to the series. I would recommend!

Link to author website: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ideal-Bride-Cynster-Novels/dp/0060505745/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394131987&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ideal+bride

2014 – Book #11

Posted in Book reviews, Historical Romance by

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The eleventh book I finished in 2014 was A Gentleman Says “I Do” by Amelia Grey. I finished this book on 3/2/14. I rated this book 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This was the first book I had read by Amelia Grey.

This story is about a man (Iverson) who is trying to find the author of some poetry that has landed his family in the “scandal sheets.” When he arrives at the author’s house to try and scare some sense into him however, he finds not the author but the man’s daughter (Catalina). Her quick wit and seemingly unending strength draw Iverson to her and make it impossible for him to stop thinking about her. As Catalina searches for her father, she finds herself falling in love with Iverson. As the two become closer, they try to overcome their differences and the secrets Catalina is keeping in order to see what could become of their future.

One of my favorite aspects of this story was the way that the hero cherished the heroine so devoutly and protected her from harm. The heroine has been going through life always taking care of her family, and the book ends with the hero taking care of her and making it so that she would not have any serious worries in her future. While unrealistic, this is one of the things that I find I like most about romance novels. Men protecting women and cherishing them as if they were precious, priceless items.

While this wasn’t one of my all time favorites, it was a sweet and interesting love story and I would recommend it. I will read more by this author as well.

Link to author website: http://www.ameliagrey.com/main.html

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/A-Gentleman-Says-I-Do/dp/1402239769/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393814057&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+says+i+do

2014 – Book #10

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Historical Romance by

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The tenth book I finished in 2014 was Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 2/22/14 (today). This book actually is the link between 2 series of books by Laurens. The first is discussed in a couple of my earlier posts, the Cynster family series. And the second is the series chronicling the detective cases of a Mr. Barnaby Adair (the hero in Where the Heart Leads). This is the first in the series of the Casebooks of Barnaby Adair. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5.

This book is about Penelope Ashford and Barnaby Adair. Penelope runs the Foundling House, which is a schoolhouse for orphans from the poorer areas of London. Some of her charges have disappeared and she enlists Adair’s help to try and recover them. Penelope’s sharp intelligence in this story makes it hard not to fall in love with her, and for a man like Barnaby Adair, Penelope’s unconventional nature makes her the perfect match for the son of an earl who solves mysteries in his spare time. The issue, however, is that Penelope has declared herself never to be married as she believes it would mean giving up all sense of her independence. As the two fall deeper and deeper in love with each other though, Penelope comes to see that marriage to the right man doesn’t mean a loss of independence but the gaining of love and support from a partner who can share in your happiness, your trials, and everything in between.

The mystery involved in the story was very good as well. Barnaby and Penelope work together with a police detective (Stokes) and a milliner’s shopkeeper (Griselda) to solve the mystery of the missing boys. In the process the four of them become good friends despite the difference in their stations. For those of you who don’t know, a milliner is a term for a hatmaker. This is obviously very popular in England as the English just lover their fancy hats:

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To learn more about millinery, you can read about it on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatmaking

So anyways, Griselda and Stokes are actually a cute sub-story included in this novel as they are the stars of their own budding romance.The combination of the main love story, the substory, and the mystery kept any piece of the story from being too slow or dry. Was a great historical romance! Overall this was a very good story and kept the reader interested throughout. I would highly recommend!

Link to author website: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Heart-Leads-Casebook-Barnaby/dp/0061243388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393084573&sr=8-1&keywords=where+the+heart+leads

2014 – Book #9

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance by

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The ninth book I finished in 2014 was Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins. I finished this book on 2/8/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Higgins’ books are those rare kind of stories that are able to make you laugh out loud and cry your eyes out. Her stories draw emotions so easily from the reader and its impossible not to get swept up in the tension and the heartaches of the characters. This novel definitely didn’t disappoint as I found myself lost in the characters and the journey of our heroine as she falls in love with her hero.
And in this story hero is the right word for it as our lead male character, and most of the other male characters in the book come to think of it, are firefighters. Chastity is the only girl in a family of 5 siblings, who falls in love with a family friend, Trevor Meade. The only thing that bugged me about this story was that if they could’ve just communicated better they probably could’ve gotten together a long time ago. Of course, realistically men and women don’t communicate well at all so it probably makes more sense than if the guy could magically know what the girl was thinking all the time.

The family in this story reminded me a lot of my family. Chastity had 4 brothers who were all married with small children and many times in the story it talks about her interacting with the little kids. And while I am an only child, my family is very close and I see my cousins, who are all married with small children, quite often. The way Chastity described her family dinners at her mother’s house reminded me a lot of family dinners at my grandfather’s house, kids running around screaming and what-not. What the author was describing was a house full of love and it made the story all the more wonderful to read.

Overall this was a very sweet and touching love story and I would highly recommend. As I said in my earlier post on another of Higgins’ books, if you’re looking for steamy you’re not in the right place. But if you’re looking for a reminder of what being vulnerable to love and what real love is, you’ll find it.

Link to author site: http://www.kristanhiggins.com/

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Guys-Kristan-Higgins/dp/0373777035/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393023904&sr=8-2&keywords=just+one+of+the+guys

2014 – Book #8

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Lost Lords series by

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The eighth book I finished in 2014 was No Longer A Gentleman by Mary Jo Putney. I finished this book on 2/2/14. It is the fourth book in the Lost Lord series by this author (the third was discussed in an earlier post this year – 2014 Book #3).  I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. The book is about a French woman working as a spy for England (Cassie) who goes in search of one of the Lost Lords who disappeared in France after the Treaty of Amiens.

This actually leads me to one of the main reasons I like historical romance novels. I’ve never been a big history fan, I always found it very boring and dry and impossible to remember all the dates and the facts. But I’ve discovered that reading historical romance novels gives me just the right dose of history and honestly gives it to me in a concept I can remember – a love story. This book was a perfect example. I doubt that I’ve ever even heard of the Treaty of Amiens (though to be honest I may have learned about it in high school and just have no memory of it), but after reading this fictional novel I can now tell you that the Treaty of Amiens was in the early 1800’s (no one really needs to remember exact years) and that it granted a temporary peace between England and France during the French Revolutionary War. I can also tell you that the French used to call the English “goddams” and that after the Treaty of Amiens ended, all the English men who were partying it up in France were captured and held in France so that they could not fight with English forces against the French in the war. Point is, historical romance novels are slowly helping me learn little bits of history and I find it fascinating. If you’d like to learn more about the Treaty of Amiens, you can read about the subject on a variety of websites. The easiest for me to link here though is wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amiens

So back to the story. Cassie, the French woman working as a spy for England, travels to France to find Lord Wyndham, who has been a prisoner in France for the past 10 years following the end of the Treaty of Amiens. While rescuing him and transporting him carefully back to England, they fall in love  obviously. Its hard to see how they couldn’t fall in love, Wyndham (“Grey”) has been imprisoned for 10 years and then gets rescued b a female, I can definitely see how he would grow attached. But anyways, they fall in love and when they get back to England they receive a message from Grey’s captor that makes them return to France and Grey is finally able to face his captor and save one of his friends. Carrie and Grey’s story was filled with vulnerabilities and insecurities, as many true life love stories are.

Overall was a very good book, one of the better ones in the Lost Lords series I think. I would recommend!

Link to author website: http://www.maryjoputney.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Longer-Gentleman-The-Lost-Lords/dp/1420117238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392923198&sr=8-1&keywords=no+longer+a+gentleman

2014 – Book #7

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance by

ImageThe seventh book I finished in 2014 was Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins. I finished this book on 1/22/14. I rated this book 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5.

Kristan Higgins is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her books always make me laugh out loud while I am reading them. They’re definitely not what I would call a steamy romance novel but the stories she writes are very sweet love stories. And many of her books remind the reader that love is not perfect, that not all love stories involve two perfectly chipper loving people. Sometimes love involves people who are cranky but they find that one person who can make them laugh. I guess what I’m trying to say is that her idea of love and romance is a little more realistic than some of the other romance novels I read. And maybe because of that they are truly touching love stories that reach deep inside the reader and grab a hold of your heart and squeeze.

Too Good To Be True is the story of a woman named Grace who is trying to move past the fact that her fiancee dumped her for her younger sister. She’s on the hunt for a new man in her life when a very attractive man moves into the house next door to her. She soon finds our however that he is an ex-convict (don’t fret, he did two years for a white collar-crime that, well, read the book and find out I guess). All of the characters in this story (in my opinion even the characters with smaller parts) are well-developed and draw emotions from the reader. While a tad slow in a couple parts, overall this book is a great read. Higgins is one of the few who can make me laugh out loud and cry my eyes out in the same book. Great author and a great book!

Link to author website: http://www.kristanhiggins.com/index.html

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Too-Good-Be-True-Hqn/dp/0373777914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392852081&sr=8-1&keywords=too+good+to+be+true

2014 – Book #6

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Historical Romance by

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The sixth book I finished in 2014 was The Perfect Lover by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 1/19/14. This is the 10th book in the Cynster family series (previously referenced in post about The Promise in a Kiss). I rated this story 4 stars out of a scale of 5.

This story is about Simon Cynster and his romance with Portia Ashford. Simon’s older sister and Portia’s older brother were featured in an earlier Cynster novel (#9 – On a Wicked Dawn). Simon and Portia find themselves at the same house party in the country. During their stay, the hostess is murdered and they, along with an inspector Stokes, work together to solve the murder. All the while Simon and Portia develop deep feelings for one another. As usual, Laurens draws us in to the emotions of the characters and makes it very easy to connect with the plot and lose yourself in the story. Overall I thought it was an excellent novel.

Link to author website: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Lover-Cynster-Stephanie-Laurens/dp/0060505729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392768831&sr=8-1&keywords=the+perfect+lover