Erica Ridley „The Brigadier’s Runaway Bride“ (The Dukes of War #5) – 3*** – @EricaRidley

There are books you love and there are books you are unsure about and this one fits into the 2nd group. I don’t say that I didn’t love it but it was different.

“The Brigadier’s Runaway Bride” is the 5^th installment in the “The Dukes of War” series by Erica Ridley. I just finished part 4 a couple of days ago.

I liked all the other parts but I am unsure, like I said, about this one. Maybe there were too many sore boobs? I am no mother and I dare not to imagine what Sarah went through after she gave birth – suddenly to twins (what a miracle, very predictable in my opinion).

She is about to marry Ravenwood but suddenly the – SPOILER (!) – dead thought former lover, Edmund Blackpool returns the moment the priest is about to declare their marriage. The next 200 pages is about their relationship, their parenthood and a lot of sore boobs. I don’t mind nursing mothers and all those things but this was a bit too much for my taste.

Next to all that I didn’t like Edmund – I hated him in the beginning for returning and I disliked him in the end, I couldn’t feel any sympathy for him. Yes, he took care of Sarah and the kids but there were no emotions, nothing like that.

Maybe I’d liked Sarah’s story more if she’d gotten married to Ravenwood who would learn to love her and the twins who weren’t his – but he was willing to give his dukedom to those kids without a second thought.

Rating: 3***

Lavinia Kent „Sarah’s Surrender“ (Bound to Determined #2,5) 5***** @laviniakent

Usually I am not for novellas but this one was good, really good because it took place in a very restricted timeframe so it worked for me!

It’s the 2.5^th part of a series called “Boud and Determind” by Lavinina Kent. Anyway, I didn’t know the writer nor was the cover in any way Victorian – it’s a nice cover but it doesn’t fit the timeframe of the story in my opinion.

Sarah needs to marry for money because her father is a gambler, so she wants one night of pleasure, one night to know how it would feel like. Jonathan, once her sweetheart, is now a rich rake who inherited a lot of money, money that obviously changed him in Sarah’s opinion. Years ago he told her that he would never marry her, even if she gives him her maidenhood – it was the reason why she left.

Now she has to accept a marriage proposal form a man, who could be her father, somebody who her father owed money to. She meets Jonathan and offers him the only thing she has to give – one night without relations.

The series’ title already says it – it’s a BDSM story but I’d say rather light if you are used to Kate Pearce novels. It was highly erotic and romantic too. Kent has a way with words that make you read and read even at 2am in the morning just to know how it might end.

For a novella it was very, very well done – character development, storyline, timeframe fit, good dialogues and no rush in narration.

Rating: 5*****

PS: As soon as I worked down my reading list, I will give this series a try. I liked the BDSM part of a lot.

*I got this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

x-posted goodreads

Erica Ridley „The Major’s Faux Fiancée“ (Dukes of War #4) @EricaRidley

“The Major’s Faux Fiancée” by Erica Ridley was like forever on my kindle I cannot even tell you, why I didn’t start it till last night, and now, the next day around lunch time, I am finished. It’s the 4^th in the “Dukes of War” series, a series I can really recommend.

Anyway … Daphne Vaughan is a young woman, daughter of a vicar, who lives outside London in her father’s house, who had recently passed away. Now she’s the ward to a relative, a private, who wants to get rid of her as soon as possible. That’s the reason why Daphne finally writes a letter to Major Bartholomew Blackpool.

Blackpool returned from war two years ago without one leg and without his twin brother – both lost on the battlefield. Since his return he didn’t enter society or met with his parents but only blamed himself for he loss of both – leg and brother, that’s also why he hides in his townhouse, burns all his mail and ignores the world because of self-pity. But Daphne’s letter makes him pack his stuff and head to his hometown where the young woman lives, near his parent’s house.

She’s surprised to see him a day after her letter reached him in the door of the vicarage and tells him everything – the pirate’s plans and about her future plans. She doesn’t want to marry nor does she want be married to somebody she doesn’t like. She wants to help the poor – the weavers, etc. Daphne doesn’t tell him that she wants to be memorized by somebody because she never has been before.

They agree on a faux betrothal and Blackpool signs the betrothal contract – banns have to be read within a day and he has to marry her soon. She only wants to survive unwed up to her 21^st birthday to get her inheritance and give her life to charity.

But to make people believe that he – the one legged former rake – is now about to get married, he has to show her off in society and that’s something Daphne isn’t really enjoying, she doesn’t even want to be in London but to get away from her warden she has to move.

It’s such a lovely story with such a lot of character development on both sides that you have to love it. Especially the end. Daphne tells Blackpool what she really thinks about him and that’s what I like best. Of course the development takes its time, she isn’t a light skirt nevertheless, but it’s so wonderfully narrated that you forget time.

The only thing I wasn’t really sure about was how Daphne really looked like and what Blackpool favored. Only her intelligence? I don’t think so. There are little to no descriptions of her dresses or let’s say body parts. She is very thin or is she normally built. Does she show a little décolletage or not?

I cannot wait to read the next installment!

Rated: 4****

*I this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Sharon Cullen „The Reluctant Duchess“ – 4**** @SharonCullen

“The Reluctant Duchess” is a novel by Sharon Cullen and honestly said I loved it, inhaled it.

One day Lady Sara Emerson seeks help but not from somebody but her cousin’s former fiancé Gabriel Ferguson, the Duke of Rossmoyne. He’s a rake nonetheless and she’s still sad because of her cousin’s sudden and unexpected death two years ago. Meredith had snuck out of her family’s townhouse and was brutally murdered.

Now, years later, Sara is receiving letters from somebody who witnessed her death or eventually even helped. She’s afraid, anxious but also wants to solve the mystery behind this letters. She cannot go to her parents, who only kind of adopted her after her own parents’ death and are originally her aunt and uncle, Meredith’s parents. So she seeks help in London visiting Rossmoyne – a handsome rake, who is willing to help after he read the letters. Sara even stays at his townhouse together with his mother.

She trusts him and because of so many different reasons they start to get closer …

Oh this was a lovely read. When they are on the hunt after this mysterious man they drive into the poor parts of London and I really had the feeling I can smell I (my wild imagination!), feel and taste these parts. I love the city nowadays but don’t want to imagine how it was back than.

And Cullen has this way to create a character and play with it. Sara was self confident in the beginning and only had one goal, find her cousin’s murder and that only because of the letters. In the end she is passionate about so many other things (and not only Rossmonyne).

I also loved the way Ferguson’s mom was involved in this arch because she wasn’t playing an easy role. She wants the best for both but knows her son and the way he is and was around woman – a rake. And she knew Sara’s real parents and called them dear friends that’s why she wants the best for this girl who already lost her cousin.

I really enjoyed reading it. A great book.

Rated: 4****

*I this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

x-posted w/ Goodreads

Megan Mulry „Bound to be a Bride“ – 3*** @MeganMulry

“Bound to be a Bride” by Megan Mulry is a rather short novella, under 100 pages. It’s my 2^nd Megan Mulry book, a freebee from Amazon. Usually I don’t read anything that short but after “Bound with Honor” I wanted to give it a try.

Doña Isabella de Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba (yes, it is a rather long and complicated name but being a historian and European I am used to Spanish names) is the 17 year old daughter of a very influential Spanish Duke, the Duke of Feria. Up to the day she was living in a cloister to be educated by nuns about the chaste way of living. Isabella hated it.

But now her father arranged a marriage, like they always did, to a wealthy son of another aristocratic family. Isabella sees only one way – she has to run away, escape.

Francisco Javier de la Mina, the groom to be, has the same idea about marriage. He doesn’t want to be bond to a boring grey girl from a nunnery only because their parents think their connection is perfect. And he is also in contact with the revolutionaries.

Nevertheless she plans her escape and succeeds. In the woods she stumbles into three men who hold her because she isn’t revealing her real identity nor are they. Javier likes to tie her up at night so she has no possibility to escape or steal anything and he does it in a very passionate way without hurting her. At night he studies her and sees the pleasure all over her face.

To call this a BDSM novel with a bondage focus is a little bit much. Yes, Javier likes to use his Japanese rope binding techniques but there isn’t that much erotic involved to call it BDSM, maybe in the last 10% of the book.

Everybody knows that I am no fan of novellas and with this one I really have to say that she could have stretched it to 300 pages easily because she likes to work with details in some scenes and if she’d worked it all over the book it would have been fantastic.

The story itself is very predictable and well researched but nevertheless unrealistic but I don’t mind it if there is some romance, erotic or whatever in it. Aren’t most of the regency novels quite unrealistic? And we all love them.

Unfortunately the end is missed out. SPOILER: both families are searching for them and all the parents arrive at the port minutes before they step on the ship. I mean: Really? Shouldn’t they look separately for them because they do not really know that they have found each other? They only have found out about an hour before who they really were and so on. And of course all the parents excuse their  escape….

Rating: 3***

Sabrina Jeffries „The Art of Sinning“ (Sinful Suitors #1) – 5***** – @SabrinaJeffries

*I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

When I finished the book yesterday I looked at the watch and realized that it was today because it was 2am.

“The Art of Sinning” is the 1^st book in a new series called “Sinful Suitors” and was written by Sabrina Jeffries. It’s my first book by her and for sure won’ be the last one.

Jeremy Keane is an artist (painter) from America and touring Europe but staying in London at the very moment when he sees a young tall woman at a wedding – Lady Yvette Barlow. She’s an amazon. Tall, curvy, luscious. On the balcony he meets a man, Yvette’s brother who wants to see Keane to paint a portrait of her in exchange for the help to find the painter’s sister a husband because his mother and sister are on the way from the US to the UK to get him back.

Keane isn’t one of those poor relations, no, he’s a rich and quite popular painter but nobody knows something about his past nor his models. He’s a rake and doesn’t try to chance that.

When he is officially introduced to Lady Yvette to paint the portrait he talks her into posing for another painting of his, something secret, in exchange for his help to get into bawdy houses in Covent Garden to find somebody.

But Keane isn’t immune to her. He’s want the wants but she’s now a widow nor married woman but an innocent virgin who hasn’t many suitors who aren’t after her money. Most of them are. And she isn’t an easy catch because she collects cant or let’s call it slang. She wants to be her own woman and not somebody property.

Of course he cannot resist her and vice versa but there are a lot of secrets to be uncovered.

Oh my god. I LOVED it. Yvette is what I want a heroine to be. She’s not that fairy pixie from the woods but an amazon. She’s tall, busty with luscious hips, ivory skin and dark locks. When I see my book in front of me, like a movie, I love the way a busty woman can emphasize her curves with the 18^th and 19^th century fashion, the corsages and so on. But it is my imagination. And since I love the Greek mythology … and I love a good un-classical bluestocking.

Jeremy on the other is a mystery to me and eventually has to be one because of his past. But I liked his background. I liked the whole idea of the secret painting but I was looking forward that she’d be braver, show herself in a more revealing way at night.

There isn’t a boring page. And I can only imagine what the other books of the series will be about, maybe about Yvette’s brother, Clarissa, Jeremy’s sister …

Rating: 5*****

(Crosspost: Goodreads)

Delilah Malville „The Mistress of Pleasure“ (School of Gallantry #1) 5***** @DelilahMarvelle

*I got this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

“The Mistress of Pleasure”, #1 of the series “School of Gallantry” by Delilah Malville isn’t a new book but she redid it and added a few new scenes, that’s what I read on Netgalley. I don’t know the original but I loved this one. You have to be in love with the story and the leads because there is no other way.

I have read number 5 (Master of Pleasure) and 7 (The Duke of Andelot) of this series so I know the story and in the beginning I wasn’t even sure if I already had read the book or not because many things felt so familiar but the more I read the more I realized that I may know the characters well, especially the lead’s grandmother, but not the story.

Maybelle de Maitenon is the granddaughter of a famous former French courtesan. The grandmother wants to open the school of gallantry to teach rich young men how to seduce a woman and what a woman wants because in her opinion society is all about men and men only do what helps them gain most. The only problem is that Maybelle doesn’t want to live the life of her grandmother, she wants it silent and she wants to travel to Egypt and see the pyramids. But she also wants to know what passion is nevertheless she’s over 20 and the ton avoids her because of her grandmother’s reputation.

Edmund Worthington, the Duke of Rutherford, and his family’s (scandalous) past are famous. He’s dark, tall and muscular. He’s the man, Maybelle wants to give her virginity too. One dark night she follows him, whom she held eye contact before but he didn’t go towards her to ask for a formal introduction, to the garden, they have (kind of) sex and in the end her dress and his waist jacket are ruined. When she is about to leave the ball with her grandmother collapses and nobody comes to help because of her reputation, except for Rutherford.

Fact is that Maybelle feels like she doesn’t belong to the better part of the society (I already knew about her heritage from the beginning because I read the other books first …) because she’s the granddaughter of a French courtesan. While everybody read romance novels or Voltaire, she got books on erotica from her grandmother and she had to hide Voltaire (it’s one of my fav parts in the beginning).

Nevertheless Rutherford enrolls in the School of Gallantry and since her grandmother has to recover from her colaps, Maybelle has to play teacher …

Oh my god, I LOVED IT!!

I loved the interaction between Maybelle and Rutherford a lot and of course the grandmother!! She’s quite a handful for a girl like Maybelle but she is (most of the time) honest with her and loves her dearly. She knows what passion is and she has quite a past.

I also liked the change of Rutherford’s mother, the dowager duchess. I’d really hope that I will find her in one of the other books again because she decided to live again after everything that happened.

It’s fast narrated and you really do not want to put it away. Very well done!

Rated: 5 stars *****

Jess Michaels „Forbidden“ (The Wicked Woodleys #1) – @JessMichaelsBKS

*I got this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

As everybody probably know I love Jess Michael’s books – her stories, her characters, her way of describing fashion and the dialogues of course. This one is the 1^st of a new series called “The Wicked Woodleys”.

Audrey, the youngest of the Woodley Clan (and the only girl) is unmarried, living with her mother and has feelings for Jude Samson, her brother’s man of affairs. Because of her brother’s new marriage and many other things their mother thinks it would be the best to go to the countryside to make some renovations in Audrey’s favorite house.

Of course Audrey and Jude fall in love and she knows very well what she wants from him – passion. She wants to know how it feels to be wanted and Jude has loved her for years so in the beginning its easy for him to kiss her but the further they go the more complicated it gets. Next to all that he’s a servant and she is the sister of the boss, an aristocrat.

So Samson has to dive into his own past and the family’s past because there are secrets nobody talks about. There are things hidden …

I liked the twist with Jude’s family’s past and the things connected to it. I also really enjoyed to learn about Claire, Audrey’s sister, and why she ran away but I didn’t really get why she wants to stay with her husband but maybe – hopefully – we’ll learn more about this complex and dangerous relationship in one of the other books.

Funny was also Audrey’s mother and her illness because she had a cold, suddenly a high fever and with some herbs she is much better again. Unfortunately doctors during those years let their patients bleed quite too often, unnecessarily. Jess made a point there.

It’s a really a great book, a lovely story and I went through it within hours. I really loved it.

5*****

PS: Jess always has those covers I love so much.