[Review] Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish, by Grace Burrowes

Title: Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish
Series: Windham #4
Author: Grace Burrowes
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Number of pages: 384
Publication date: September 24th 2019

Synopsis:

All she wants is a little peace...
But Sophie's holiday is about to heat up...

Lady Sophie Windham has maneuvered a few days to herself at the ducal mansion in London before she must join her family for Christmas in Kent. Suddenly trapped in Town by a snowstorm, she finds herself with an abandoned baby and only the assistance of a kind, handsome stranger standing between her and complete disaster.

With his estate in chaos, Vim Charpentier expected complications this holiday season, but he couldn't have predicted that Sophie Windham would be among them. His growing attraction for Sophie is the only thing that warms his spirits. But Sophie's been keeping secrets, and it will take more than a kiss under the mistletoe to make her wishes come true...

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the publisher, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

I loved this book! I’ve always really enjoyed Christmas/Holidays related books, and this one hit all the right spots.

Sophie is the sensible sister. She doesn’t give problems to anyone. So, when she decides to spend some time at Christmas with friends, her family doesn’t worry. But Sophie has a plan. She wants to spend some of her Christmas alone. But her plans get sidetracked when she is left stranded with someone else’s baby.

Queue Vim, our hero. I’ll admit right away, I love babies. I find them adorable, and I love holding them. And whenever I see someone who is good with a baby, I just feel happy. And Vim, well, he’s perfect with young Kit. How he helps Sophie without ever mocking her, or making feel like she’s doing something wrong, it’s just perfect.

I really enjoyed the relationship between both the hero and the heroine, and them with Kit. It was adorable, with our characters stuck due to a snow storm, learning about each other, and relating in a way they couldn’t with other people. Sometimes it’s just easier to talk to a stranger than someone who’s known you forever, right?

I also really liked how Sophie’s brothers didn’t try to decide for her, or just beat Vim. They understood that they were in love, but apparently there was some form of impediment, so they decided to do what they could to help them. Great brothers!

All in all, a great romance, with some steamy moments, very romantic, very adorable, and it just made me very happy.

[Review] Heiress Gone Wild, by Laura Lee Guhrke

Title Heiress Gone Wild
Series: Dear Lady Truelove #4
Author: Laura Lee Guhrke
Publisher: Avon
Number of pages: 384
Publication date: September 24th 2019

Synopsis:

Dear Lady Truelove,
My ward is driving me crazy. I have to marry her off and get her out of my life. There's just one problem…

When Jonathan Deverill promised a dying friend he'd be guardian to the man's daughter, he envisioned a girl in pigtails and pinafores, a child he could leave behind in some finishing school. Problem is, his ward is actually a fully-grown, defiant beauty whose longing for romance threatens to make his guardianship a living hell.

New York heiress Marjorie McGann wants a London season and a titled husband who can help her spend the Yankee millions she's inherited, and she thinks her new British guardian is the perfect person to help her find him. But Jonathan has no intention of letting his friend's fortune be squandered. Under his watchful, protective eye, Marjorie finds romance hard to come by...until one fateful night when her own guardian's devastating kisses makes her wonder if the greatest romance of all might be right in front of her.

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the author, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

This was my first Laura Lee Guhrke book. I don’t know why it took me so long to read this author!

I’ll admit, some things in the book were a bit too much for me, but in general this was quite fun!

I really liked Marjorie, she was fun, and she was very determined. And for someone who pretty much lived her whole life between the walls of a school, she was very courageous. Because it courage to actually do what she did. It’s all good when you’re thinking about going on an adventure, but actually doing it, takes a lot of guts!

The romance trope in this book is the ward-guardian trope. But not to worry, Marjorie isn’t a child, or teenager, she’s a young woman – which the hero knew nothing about, and he was very surprised to find a beautiful woman instead of a young girl in pigtails.

Jonathan does seem a bit annoying sometimes, but we have to keep in mind he is trying to protect both Marjorie and himself. He wants her to have her dream, but at the same time he wants his sanity. Whenever Marjorie does something crazy, we can clearly see all the mechanics in his head, and sometimes it does come out, but it’s mostly #internallyscreaming.

This book was a lot of fun, as we accompanied both the hero and the heroine to discover new (and old) dreams, and what they actually wanted out of their lives. It really pushes some of our buttons, and force us to, alongside the characters, see what we’re looking for in our lives. Is it really the ballrooms and gossip, or do we want something more? This was the question for Marjorie. And for Jonathan? Well, for him it was even a bigger question, as he had no idea what he wanted to do, besides what he already did. But he wanted a new dream… he just didn’t know what that would entail. And together, they find a new, adventurous dream.

[Review] The Princess And The Rogue, by Kate Bateman

Title: The Princesss and The Rogue
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #3
Author: Kate Bateman
Publisher: St. Martins's Paperbacks
Number of pages: 304
Publication date: December 29th 2020

Synopsis:

A princess in disguise is forced to live with a rogue in order to protect her from danger in this fun, sexy regency romance.

Bow Street agent Sebastien Wolff, Earl of Mowbray, doesn't believe in love―until a passionate kiss with a beautiful stranger in a brothel forces him to reconsider. When the mysterious woman is linked to an intrigue involving a missing Russian princess, however, Seb realizes her air of innocence was too good to be true. Princess Anastasia Denisova has been hiding in London as plain 'Anna Brown'. With a dangerous traitor hot on her trail, her best option is to accept Wolff's offer of protection―and accommodation―at his gambling hell. But living in such close quarters, and aiding Wolff in his Bow Street cases, fans the flames of their mutual attraction. If Anya's true identity is revealed, does their romance stand a chance? Could a princess ever marry a rogue?

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the publisher, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

A Russian Princess and a Bow Street agent – the perfect recipe for a different story!

Anna and Seb didn’t hit it off in the beginning, especially considering that Seb believed that Anna was fooling and endangering his grandmother.

This forced proximity story ticks all the boxes for a romance from… maybe not completely enemies (but close enough) to lovers, with lots of danger, history, and sexy times in between.

Although I haven’t read the previous books in the series, I really enjoyed meeting the characters that formed the original owners/lodgers of the gambling hell where our hero currently lives. It was very interesting to read about Sebastian’s feeling regarding the changes in his life, and how he was dealing with it, which not the most common situation in romances. You might have the teasing between friends saying “you’re the last one, it’s your time to find a partner”, but here we had the hero actually working through his own feelings of, in a way, losing his best friends, even though they are still around.

I really liked Anna, she was very fierce, very determined, very loyal, and very resilient. Not everyone would be able to change lives the way she did. And she took control of what she could!

As they slowly fall in love, we see some romantic gestures, and how each of them pays close attention to one another. The writing was compelling, and the book had a good pacing. An enjoyable read.

[Review] Hiring Mr.Darcy, by Valerie Bowman

Title: Hiring Mr.Darcy
Series: Austen Hunks #1
Author: Valerie Bowman
Publisher: June Third Enterprises, LLC
Number of pages: 266
Publication date: September 25th 2020

Synopsis:

She ’s hiring…

Meg Knightley is a history professor with a little OCD and a lot of competitive spirit. When her similarly nerdy history professor boyfriend tosses her over for a starlet on the eve of the Jane Austen Festival and Games, she needs a new Mr. Darcy STAT.

He’s the man for the job…

Jeremy Remington left a lucrative tech job to follow his dreams—but getting his custom woodworking business off the ground isn’t cheap. When his best friend’s sister offers good money for little more than acting the gentleman, he jumps at the chance. After all, how hard could it be to fly over to England and wear a cravat for a few days?

Until things get real.

She hired him to play the part of a proper gentleman, so why can’t she stop thinking about what’s underneath his waistcoat?
And when Meg finds out Jeremy has had a crush on her for years, will she toss him out on his ear…or will the job turn into a permanent gig?

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the author, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

Any Pride and Prejudice fans out there? This contemporary romance will fill all your dreams of a modern Mr. Darcy.

I spent the whole time with a mostly happy grin on my face while reading this book, the exception being hen Harrison, Meg’s boyfriend showed up. He never stood for her, defended her, or even made it known how he felt about her being treated unfairly. He didn’t have anything to redeem him. He wasn’t a bad guy… He just wasn’t the right guy.

Meg was supposed to go to the Jane Asuten Festival in Bath, with Harrison. However, he was now going with a Hollywood actress, at the request of the University both him and Meg work at. He didn’t even make a comment about how hard Meg had worked for the competition of the festival, and right away we can tell that Harrison really has no backbone.

Cue my favourite trope, and the reason I was so happy to read this contemporary romance: Meg hires one of her brother’s friends to be her Mr.Darcy at the competition. Sibling’s best friend and fake relationships make my day! Although I should say, they don’t really have a fake relationship, as Meg still has her boyfriend during most of the book, and she makes a point to not cross that line, with a small exception at the end of the book (to be honest, I didn’t really like that, as I didn’t think it was very fair for our hero). The book also has a glow-up/ugly duckling turn swan situation with our hero!

Jeremy, Mr.Darcy at Bath, is a hunk. And most importantly, he’s a kind, funny, loyal gentleman, who can appreciate Meg for whom she really is.

I loved their banter, how they reconnected from their childhood, how Meg was confronted with her own prejudice, and how she evolved as an individual.

This book really is a love story, and it will make you giggle just at the right moments, and in the end you will feel like you’ve had a good time reading it.

[Review] A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby, by Vanessa Riley

Title A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby
Series: Rogues and Remarkable Women #1
Author: Vanessa Riley
Publisher: Zebra
Number of pages: 320
Publication date: June 30th 2020

Synopsis:

Created by a shrewd countess, The Widow’s Grace is a secret society with a mission: to help ill-treated widows regain their status, their families, and even find true love again—or perhaps for the very first time...

When headstrong West Indian heiress Patience Jordan questioned her English husband's mysterious suicide, she lost everything: her newborn son, Lionel, her fortune—and her freedom. Falsely imprisoned, she risks her life to be near her child—until The Widow's Grace gets her hired as her own son’s nanny. But working for his unsuspecting new guardian, Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, has perils of its own. Especially when Patience discovers his military strictness belies an ex-rake of unswerving honor—and unexpected passion...

A wounded military hero, Busick is determined to resolve his dead cousin’s dangerous financial dealings for Lionel’s sake. But his investigation is a minor skirmish compared to dealing with the forthright, courageous, and alluring Patience. Somehow, she's breaking his rules, and sweeping past his defenses. Soon, between formidable enemies and obstacles, they form a fragile trust—but will it be enough to save the future they long to dare together?

Review:

I received an eARC at no cost from the publisher, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

This was my first book by Vanessa Riley and I was super excited to read this book, as it is a diverse historical romance, and I’ll admit right away: most authors I read are not diverse and/or do not write diverse stories/characters. However, I’m trying to improve myself and this was my first eARC of a historical romance that featured more diversity.

The heroine, Patience, is from an island in Demerara (currently Guyana, South America), and the hero, Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington is a war-hero from England.

I really, really, really wanted to like this book. But I found it tasking to finish it, and it just didn’t really work for me.

First of all, the book is written in the 1st person AND in the 3rd person, which makes it confusing, and honestly, it started to give me headaches with its changing the whole time.

Patience, although I can understand her struggle, and her reasons, was just a bit annoying sometimes, and in the end I just didn’t like her.

Busick was okay, not a great hero either. He’s an amputee, a war hero, a very strict, very protective, very organized man. My favourite part about him was the love he had for his ward, Lionel – Patience’s baby.

For me… we don’t actually see a romance develop between the main characters, we are simply told they started to fall in love, and there is no chemistry between them.

The mystery in the whole book just was too much, and yet left questions unanswered at the end.

I liked and respect that the author explored difficult themes (such as war wounds, mental health, the injustices in England during the 19th, particularly regarding women, and even more regarding POC, amongst other) but for me it wasn't enough to make me enjoy the book, sadly. I did enjoy the female friendships, and the best part for me was Lionel (the baby), and moments he was with his family.