[Review] The Bachelor, by Sabrina Jeffries

Title The Bachelor
Series: Duke Dynasty #2
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Publisher: Zebra Books
Number of pages: 259
Publication date: February 25th 2020

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries features an irresistible family in a series to savor, as the grown children of a thrice-married dowager duchess piece together the stories of their fathers--while pursuing passions of their own...

Lady Gwyn Drake has long protected her family's reputation by hiding an imprudent affair from her youth. But when her former suitor appears at Armitage Hall, manhandling the heiress and threatening to go public with her secrets, it's Gwyn who needs protecting. Her twin brother, Thorn, hires Joshua Wolfe, the estate's gamekeeper, to keep her safe in London during her debut. As a war hero, Joshua feels obligated to fulfill the assignment he has accepted. But as a man, it's torment to be so very close to the beauty he's fought to ignore...

With handsome Joshua monitoring her every move, Gwyn would prefer to forget both the past and the parade of money-seeking bachelors at her coming out. But Joshua is unmoved by her attempts at flirtation, and the threat of blackmail still hangs over her. With danger closing in, Gwyn must decide which is the greater risk: deflecting a scoundrel's attempts to sabotage her--or revealing her whole heart to the rugged bodyguard she can't resist...

Review:

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

I’m starting by saying I really like meeting Joshua in the previous book of this series, so I was very happy to see that he was the hero of this new book.

Joshua is hired as the “bodyguard” of Lady Gwyn Drake. But Gwyn has her own secrets that make it very hard for Joshua to protect her. I really enjoyed as Joshua wanted to protect her but didn’t invalidate her experiences, and believed her but not judged her.

They have a bit of a rough time in the beginning, but their attraction grows, and when they open up to each other everything falls into place.

Joshua clearly has PTS from the war, and his temper is not the best. Gwyn wants things done her way, and they collide until they start seeing the others’ perspective. When they both learn to trust, all the romance and sexy times get better.

It was a great romance, with characters that made you care about their outcome.

[Review] Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert

Title: Act Your Age, Eve Brown
Series: The Brown Sisters #3
Author: Talia Hibbert
Publisher: Avon
Number of pages: 400
Publication date: March 9th 2021

Synopsis:

In Act Your Age, Eve Brown the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard—literally.

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It's time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she's not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

Review:

We have the final instalment of the Brown Sisters! It was a delight to follow along Evie’s misadventures (even though Dani’s book is still my favourite!).

Eve has had an easy life, but not so easy as it might seem at first sight… She feels very much at drift, and it’s hard for her to fit in – only copying and mirroring social interactions is she able to try and connect with people. But not the right people! Her “friends” keep her around for help, but that’s about it.

When Eve’s family decide for her that she needs to stop living of her trust fund, she feels frustrated as she knows that she doesn’t do that on a whim, or on purpose, things just…don’t work out for her. And Eve realizes that she doesn’t really know who she is, or what she wants. And she ends up LITERALLY hit the person who will help her with that.

Meet Jacob, the owner of a B&B whose goal is to make sure people have a home away from home. When he meets Eve, who sings, and is a bit much, he doesn’t really know how to behave. He’s attracted to her, but at the same she pushes some of his buttons, and in the beginning, it’s slightly hard for him to cope with it.

Their relationship was very cute and adorable, and even though I thought it could have had a bit more interaction with high and lows, I did enjoy it.

On that note, I did feel the end was a bit… quick, I would say? Not the resolution, the “problem”. I get why they behaved the way they did, but I felt that Eve would have been different, she would have pushed Jacob right away, and maybe that would have been worse than what happened, but that’s just what felt a bit off for me.

I liked seeing Eve at the B&B, and discovering what really made her happy, but I would have liked to see some things happening between her and the guest, instead of just being told that Jacob noticed this and it made him and them happy.

Also, I liked seeing all the characters from the previous books, but again, I felt like the reactions that lead to the “problem” was a bit much… The sisters and their respective boyfriends are rational people, and the message they got from Eve didn’t have any HUGE triggers to make them do what they did. The guys say to just call Eve, but the sisters go full on PROTECTIVE MODE for their baby sister Eve (which denotes a bit how they still think of her, even though she is a grown woman – which they admit (isn’t it great when that happens?)!!!

This was such a fun book, with main characters who are Autistic (as I’m not, I will not comment on that depiction, as I don’t feel like I’m in a place where I could or should do it), and secondary characters that just made you laugh and helped the story going.

Talia Hibbert is great at giving her characters particular traits that are very visible with their behaviours, like the fact that Eve absolutely loves music, but we don’t just see her listening to it – she quotes music, sings, and hums, amongst other little things.

Anyway, I loved Eve, loved Jacob, and I can’t wait to read the spin-off series with all the other characters from Skybriar, the little town where his B&B is located.

[Review] Heiress In Red Silk, by Madeline Hunter

Title: Heiress In Red Silk
Series: Duke's Heiress #2
Author: Madeline Hunter
Publisher: Zebra
Number of pages: 304
Publication date: April 27th 2021

Synopsis:

In this sparkling series from New York Times bestselling author Madeline Hunter, a mysterious bequest brings a whole new life—and brand-new love—to three unsuspecting women...

In one life-changing windfall, Rosamund Jameson goes from struggling shopkeeper to heiress—and co-owner of a new business. Not only will her sudden fortune allow her to move her millinery shop to fashionable London, but Rosamund will be able to provide her younger sister with a proper entry into society. The only hitch for resourceful Rosamund is her arrogant, infuriatingly handsome business partner...

Kevin Radnor is shocked that his late uncle, the Duke of Hollinburgh, bequeathed half his company to a total stranger—worse, a beguiling beauty who can only hinder his enterprise. But Rosamund insists on an active, equal partnership, so Kevin embarks on a plan: a seduction that will lead to a marriage of convenience, giving Rosamund the social status she needs, and guaranteeing him the silent partner he desires. Yet as this charismatic gentleman sets his flirtation in motion, he begins to wonder who is seducing whom—and if he can learn to share himself body and mind, without losing his heart...

Review:

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

Heiress in Red Silk is the second book in the series A Duke’s Heiress. Here, we meet Rosamund Jameson, the milliner who receives a large inheritance from a Duke she barely knew.

I liked that Rosamund was very focused on her job, but also interested in the new enterprise that came with the inheritance. This, in turn, was something that made Kevin Radnor very upset.

Kevin is an inventor, and he created a model of something that would improve the trains at the time. But he doesn’t really trust anyone with his invention and its construction, which makes it very hard to move it forward.

This book attempts a bit of a My Fair Lady/Pygmalion trope, but for me it was left a bit incomplete.

Kevin annoyed me, and although I liked Rosamund, I didn’t really feel much of a connection between these two characters. The first little bump and they were done. It didn’t feel much like love…

I liked seeing Minerva and Chase, and their story from the first book had much more appeal to me. [Read the review for their book here.]

The mystery of the first book is still present here, but it even though the hero was definitely a suspect to some people, it just never felt like he was ever in dire need of help. And if in the first book I felt wrapped by the whole mystery, this one just made the story a bit boring.

I’m still interested in knowing what happened to the old duke, and who the next heiress is, but to be honest, Kevin and Rosamund’ story wasn’t the best.

[Romantic Covers] Rokesbys series, by Julia Quinn

Welcome back to Romantic Covers!

Today’s covers are of a prequel of a series which has become quite famous. Anyone seen the Bridgerton series?

Well, here's the covers for the prequels (although the books were published AFTER the Bridgerton book series!), the Rokesbys series, written by Julia Quinn.

On the left, the US covers all have strong, bold dress colours; on the right, the Portuguese (PT) covers, have a softer look. As you can see, the last Portuguese cover has a question mark on top of it, as the book hasn't been published yet, but the blog Algodão Doce Para O Cérebro shared the cover of the book, which we hope will be published this year.

Let me know which one is your favourite, and please comment about what you like (or dislike!) about each cover 😊

[Review] Hit Me With Your Best Scot, by Suzanne Enoch

Title: Hit Me With Your Best Scot
Series: Wild Wicked Highlanders #3
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Number of pages: 336
Publication date: February 9th 2021

Synopsis:

The MacTaggert brothers have one task: Find English brides or lose their land!

Coll MacTaggert, Viscount Glendarril, is a big, brawny Highlander who doesn’t like being told what to do—not even by his exasperated English mother who is determined to see her eldest son wedded and bedded. However, when he comes to the rescue of an irresistibly beautiful woman, Coll discovers that he may have found his perfect match…

The challenge isn’t that Persephone Jones is famous, wealthy, independent, and smarter than anyone he knows. The problem is that she is not interested in marrying any man---especially not a hot-headed Scot—even if he is the only man who seems to understand who she really is even when she’s not sure herself. When Coll learns that Persephone is actually a lady-in-hiding and someone is willing to kill her for what she stands to inherit…Well, Coll has never been one to turn down a fight. When hearts are involved, nothing comes between a Highlander and his lady.

Review:

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

This is the last book of the Wild Wicked Highlanders series, and it brings us the story of the oldest MacTaggert brother, Coll.

Coll is a bit, like his sister Eloise likes to call him, an angry mountain. But, as most romance heroes, he has a soft heart, and is a very unselfish person.

Persephone Jones is an actress, but also more than that, and when her life is in jeopardy, Coll jumps in at the chance to help her, spend time with her, and also upset his very English mother.

What somewhat started as a pursuit of spite, turns into a lovely affair of the heart, with Coll falling in love and declaring himself to Persephone, despite his concerns regarding having here the mistress of his house, because, as he so pointedly says, “I love ye. I ken it doesn’t change a thing, you’re still an actress and I’m the oldest son of an earl (…). I have a duty, and ye have a life you’ve made for yourself. But I’ve looked for nine –weeks and longer than that in the Highlands – to find a woman with whom I’d care to spend my life, and I damned well know when I’ve found one. It’s someaught I’m willing to fight for. But not if dunnae feel the same about me.” (From Hit Me With Your Best Scot. Copyright © 2021 by Suzanne Enoch). I love this quote because it says yes, Colls loves Persephone, but he’s also giving her the opportunity to share her own feelings, no matter what they are. Because it’s only worth fighting against the world if you’re together.

We have several attempts to harm Persephone throughout the book, and I have to say, I did not see it coming until almost the end, when we found out who the person trying to harm our heroine was. Very well done plot wise.

I really enjoyed this book, it was fun to spend some time with the brothers again, and to see Lady Aldriss and Angus together for once. Maybe will get a book, or a novella about their reunion?

I also really liked that Coll admitted that Persephone absolutely loved the theatre and acting, and therefore never questioned removing her from that world after marrying her, which most of the times happens, so it was refreshing to find a hero who admitted this right away, and always said any change in profession would only be Persie’s choice.

In the end, it was an entertaining book, with a hero learning what falling in love meant for him, and what he was willing to abdicate in the name of love – because compromise, my friends is the key to a loving, happy relationship.