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

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:

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

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

The fourth book I finished for 2014 was The Promise in a Kiss by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 1/13/14. This book was a a “special” book published as part of the Cynster series written by Laurens. I discovered the Cynster series last year and started from the first book and read through to the 9th in the series before the end of last year. Laurens is very talented at developing the characters in each of her stories and drawing the reader into the emotions of the book. I especially like the series because it follows a family tree and catalogs the story of each of the members of the tree. I very much enjoy a series like that as characters pop up all over the place from previous books or future stories and they are all connected. The Cynster family tree is quite extensive, so there  are many stories to read! The family tree from Laurens’ website is included here:

The Promise in a Kiss tells the story of Sebastian, the Duke of St. Ives, and Helena Rebecce de Stansion, Comtesse d’Lisle. Helena made appearances in many of the early books of the series as she and Sebastian were the head of the family that is catalogued throughout the series. This “special” book is essentially telling the back story of how the family came to be. It was a very touching love story with a suspenseful side to it as Helena tries to free her sister from her uncle’s evil clutches. I rated this book 4 stars, I thought it had a good plot with interesting characters and was well-paced.

The Cynster series is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite series, partly because the women are all so strong and willful characters, the men are so devoted and protective of the women they fall in love with, and all the characters in the stories are so well developed it is hard not to feel as if you’re living the stories as you’re reading them. If you like historical romance novels, this is definitely a series to read. As you can see from the family tree, the first book is titled The Devil’s Bride and tells the story of the son of Sebastian and Helena. I can’t wait to continue with this series and read about more of the happy endings in store for this family.

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

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/The-Promise-Kiss-Cynster-Novels/dp/0061031755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392594263&sr=8-1&keywords=the+promise+in+a+kiss