Holy Pumpkin Pie!! Upcoming Historical Romance!!!

November 29, 2020

 

Authors with an asterisk*, I'm picking up! Authors with **asterisks have either fallen off my radar or new to me, and I'm might read them this time around. Release dates mostly between November 15, 2020 and December 14, 2020. For more Upcoming Releases that aren't historical see HEY DELIA!!

 

Series indicates a series, spin-off, sequel, trilogy, brother/sister, secret society/spies, good friends who attended Oxford/Eton, vampire/werewolf - anything that has something continuing - even if written 20 years ago. Anthology/novella/short stories could be an anthology or a bunch of books in one print or novella - one tiny book or an anthology with a bunch of novellas - could be a short stories by one author, could be short stories by multiple authors - could be - I'm getting a headache. Ebook, only sold electronically for now. Debut - congratulations!

By the way, it is not my fault if a publisher changes the release dates - just so you know, they do not consult me. Let me also add this warning - since I am now using different sources, I am finding that one person's genre isn't necessarily another persons - sorry if your book is in the wrong genre. 

  

Holiday books coming soon! 

Historical Romance

	Annabelle Anders http://www.annabelleanders.com Cocky Mister, ebook Regency Cocky Gents series December 7
	Christi Caldwell http://www.christicaldwellauthor.com Undressed with the Marquess Lost Lords of London series November 17
	Darcy Burke   http://www.darcyburke.com The Bachelor Earl The Untouchables December 1
	Elizabeth Beacon The Governess's Secret Longing Yelverton series December 1
	Elizabeth Hoyt* http://www.elizabethhoyt.com When a Rogue Meets His Match Greycourt series December 1
	Eva Devon https://twitter.com/evadevonauthor?lang=en The Wallflower's Wicked Wager Wallflower Wins series November 27
	Eva Shepherd https://www.evashepherd.com/ How to Avoid the Marriage Mart      December 1
	Jade Lee http://www.jadeleeauthor.com Lord Lucifer Lords of the Masquerade series November 19
	Kerrigan Byrne http://www.kerriganbyrne.com Courting Trouble Goode Girls Romance series December 10
	Linda Broday   http://www.LindaBroday.com Once Upon a Mail Order Bride Outlaw Mail Order Brides series November 24
	Loretta Chase* http://www.lorettachase.com Ten Things I Hate about the Duke Difficult Dukes series December 1
	Louise Allen* http://www.louiseallenregency.com A Marquis in Want of a Wife           December 1
	Lucy Ashford http://www.lucyashford.com/ The Widow's Scandalous Affair December 1
	Lynn Connolly http://lynneconnolly.com/ Virginia and the Wolf The Society of Single Ladies series November 17
	Merry Farmer http://merryfarmer.net Just a Little Heartache The Brotherhood series December 4
	Minerva Spencer http://minervaspencer.com/ Notorious Rebels of the Ton   November 24
	Nicola Davidson** Adriana Herrera Eva Leigh Joanna Shupe Sierra Simone Duke I'd Like to F... November 17
	Nicole Locke http://www.NicoleLocke.com The Maiden and the Mercenary December 1
	Scarlett Scott http://www.scarlettscottauthor.com Winter's Whispers The Wicked Winters series December 10
	Shelly Thacker http://www.shellythacker.com His Scottish Bride Stolen Brides series November 17
	Sophie Barnes http://www.sophiebarnes.com The Formidable Earl Diamonds in the Rough series November 17
	Sophie Barnes http://www.sophiebarnes.com An Unexpected Temptation, short story The Townsbridges series December 8
	Tamara Gill https://www.tamaragill.com To Kiss a Highland Rose Kiss the Wallflower series December 7
	Tammy Andresen http://tammyandresen.com/ Earl of Gold Lords of Scandal series December 1

Special Holiday Series

	Dawn Brower   http://www.authordawnbrower.com/ Lady Pear's Duke, ebook 12 Days of Christmas series December 1
	Lauren Smith http://www.laurensmithbooks.com The Duke's Turtle Doves 12 Days of Christmas series December 2
	Sandra Sookoo http://www.sandrasookoo.com A Fowl Christmastide 12 Days of Christmas series December 3
	Tabetha Waite https://authortabethawaite.wix.com/romance Four Calling Cards 12 Days of Christmas series December 4
	Anna St. Claire https://www.annastclaire.com/ The Duke's Golden Rings, ebook 12 Days of Christmas series December 5
	Rebecca Levell http://rebeccalovell.com/ Miss Kitten's Geese 12 Days of Christmas series December 6
	Tracy Sumner   http://www.tracy-sumner.com Chasing the Duke 12 Days of Christmas series December 7
	Annabelle Anders http://www.annabelleanders.com Mayfair Maiden 12 Days of Christmas series December 8
	Amanda Mariel http://www.amandamariel.com Dancing with Serendipity 12 Days of Christmas series December 9
	Jane Charles http://www.janecharlesauthor.com Lady Lucinda's Lords 12 Days of Christmas series December 10
	Aileen Fish Piper's Proposal 12 Days of Christmas series December 11
	Louisa Cornell http://www.louisacornell.com Diana Drummer Dilemma 12 Days of Christmas series December 12

Historical Fiction

	Glynis Peters https://www.glynispetersauthor.co.uk/ The Forgotten Orphan December 1
	James D. Shipman https://www.james-shipman.com/ Irena's War November 24
	Philippa Gregory http://www.philippagregory.com Dark Tides November 24
	Robert Harris http://www.robert-harris.com/ V2 November 17

My Kind of Earl by Vivienne Lorret

October 23, 2020

I Feel a Glom Coming On!

https://vivlorret.net/

Well, this was a surprise! I’m not sure why I’ve never read Vivienne Lorret, but I haven’t. That is going to change after reading My Kind of Earl. And, do you know why? It has a fun story, with a heroine who actually made me smile. You know how much I like books that make me smile. Well this one did. So, I will be going back and reading more of Ms Lorret’s books. Lucky for me, Ms Lorret has a rather large library of stories, and I think some of them even connect to this one. How exciting is that!!

I have pondered this before, and I still do. What makes us choose one author and not another. You know I’ve been reading romance novels for a long, long time, and in the beginning I would often read reviews to find the plot lines that I liked. Then I would pick that book, and maybe I’d find an auto-buy author. Then I started building a large group of auto-buys. But times have changed, and I don’t use reviews to select a book anymore. I don’t read the  promos on the book, but what I find myself doing a lot lately is basing my choices on the cover art. I used to be one of those I-don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover snobs. But after some deep pondering as to why I pick one author over another, it finally dawned on me. I am basing my choices on the cover art! That was a shocker! So, authors beware…no naked chest guys standing in the snow. I looked closely at the cover of this book, I don’t think the man with the naked chest is standing in snow, I think those may be stones. What a relief. Stones are better than snow…aren’t they?

My Kind of Earl is the second book in the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series, and it was fun. I especially loved the heroine, Jane. Jane is a blue-stocking. However, she is not just any kind of blue-stocking. Jane is a researching blue-stocking, and she takes notes in her handy-dandy notebook. She’s always eager to learn, investigate, understand what makes things tick, which is why when this story begins she’s in a brothel. Now, before anyone groans about not being historically accurate, or an unbelievable premise, what can I say? You’re right, but the Marx brothers never made too much sense either. Not that Jane is like a Marx brother, but sometimes you have to flow with the narrative, put your feet up and enter a land where the heroine is just a little quirky. Most of all, relax and have fun with Dick and Jane. Of course, the heroes name is not Dick, I just threw that in.  The heroes name is Raven. See, Fun with Raven and Jane doesn’t quite have the same feel to it.

Raven. First of all I was not fond of the name, but hey there have been sillier romance hero names in other books. I got over that. Raven grew up as an orphan, one who wasn’t treated very well. He’s pulled himself up, struggled to make something of himself. One of the things I liked about Raven was, unlike a lot of other heroes who have a childhood of deprivation, he hadn’t made it to the top of the heap yet. He didn’t have tons of money dripping out of his pockets, he was still collecting his “stuff.” So, he’s hanging out at the brothel when he spots Jane. She is trying to hide in a dark corner and observe, but he’s very astute, and it’s obvious to him that Jane should not be where she is. He becomes more and more fascinated with her, and her continual note taking. He is captivated, he can’t seem to control himself around her, and he tries. It’s fun to watch him struggle against the inevitable.

The dialog between Jane and Raven was smart, witty and entertaining. She questions everything, and sees a mystery lurking in Raven. Yes, Raven has a mystery and Jane is bound and determined to solve his secrets (even if he doesn’t want her to). No matter how hard he tries, Raven just cannot resist the pull of Jane. Now, was this book perfect? Nope. I did have a few small issues, Jane’s parents, Raven’s explosion, and the ending.

I didn’t like Jane’s parents. They managed to have a huge amount of children, and then totally ignored all of those children. They reminded me a little of the parents in Home Alone, a movie I have never been fond of. Her parents were self-centered, narcissistic people who should never have had any children. Jane plays surrogate parent to her siblings, and the relationship between she and her siblings was lovely. But here’s the deal. Jane was portrayed for most of the book as a smart, determined woman, but because of her parents neglect she felt unloved. This served as an explanation for some of Jane’s later actions. I’m not sure if that story line had to be added. I guess I’m just a little tired of the number of horrible parents in books.

Nasty-man. There was a scene close to the end where Raven turns into a nasty-man. He’s says some pretty horrible things to Jane, and it comes out of left field. Up to that point he was a great hero He did all the things a hero should do: the tumble into love, the struggle against the tumble, and the realization of love. But then, for just a short time, he releases his inner petulance. I think him turning nasty so close to the end was the problem. There wasn’t enough time to turn him back into the charming guy he was before. I don’t believe his temper tantrum was needed.

The end. I think I’m spoiled. Way back in the beginning, romance books very rarely gave us epilogues, they would just end with a smile, a hug, a kiss, and a promise. Then author’s started adding those wrap-ups. They give us those chapter long epilogues letting us know that yes Matilda, our couple will have a happily-ever after. I like those epilogues, at least the short ones. I’ve grown used to having an epilogue.  I have never liked the fade-out-it’s-over endings. On the other hand, I’m not particularly fond of all the butterfly, unicorn, everyone in a series showing up for a picnic epilogue either. You just can’t make me happy, can you? I’m sure there is a middle size epilogue out there somewhere. Regardless, I neeeeed an epilogue.  

Bottom line. Even with a few minor issues, this book was a winner for me. It introduced me to a smart heroine, a sexy hero, and a talented author. I highly recommend My Kind of Earl.

 

Time/Place: 1820s England

Sensuality: Warm/Hot

Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine Heath

October 15, 2020

Adieu Trewlove Family

https://www.lorraineheath.com/

And, so it is time to bid a fond farewell to Lorraine Heath’s Trewlove family series, aka Sins for All Seasons. Beauty Tempts the Beast brings us the last man standing: Benedict Trewlove, aka the Beast. Benedict and his “siblings” have been raised by Ettie Trewlove, a baby farmer. Unlike most real baby farmers, Ettie has a heart, and has loved all of the abandoned children that were dumped on her doorstep. Raising those children may have been a struggle, but they all overcame the hardships, and formed a lasting, strong bond of kinship.

Benedict owns a brothel. Wait a minute! Wait a minute! How can a man who is selling women’s bodies be a hero? Oh for Pete sake, remember this is Romanceland, and of course our hero doesn’t really want to own a brothel. We can’t have that. First of all, he does not partake of the women in the brothel. Second of all, he has been working on a plan that will allow the women to find a different method of earning a living. It’s been a little rough finding them a different way of earning a living. For the most part, they aren’t refined enough to do other skills that were available to women. He is a little rough around the edges himself, so he cannot be their teacher. What to do, what to do? Then one evening while hanging out at his sister’s pub, his eyes alight on a barmaid. Enter our heroine, Althea Stanwick.

If the women in the brothel are out of place in genteel households, then it should come as no surprise that Althea Stanwick is out of place serving drinks in a pub. You see, Althea used to be a part of the aristocracy, but then her father was branded as a traitor to the crown. Her family lost everything, her mother died, and she and her brothers were left to fend for themselves. By the way, her brothers, Marcus and Griffith, are future heroes. We are only given little hints as to what’s going on with the brothers. We do know that they are trying to exonerate their father, and whatever they are doing is dangerous. Because of that they are not there to protect their sister…mostly; it’s all very convoluted. Anyway, Benedict is a protector of people, and he instantly wants to protect Althea. She’s not so thrilled with his protection, but she doesn’t have too much of a say. So, Benedict follows her around, makes sure she arrives at her small room in Whitechapel, and lectures her one brother on responsibility. Yes, Benedict is an “I’m in charge” kind of guy. That’s probably a good thing because even though Althea thinks she can take care of herself, she’s out of her element in Whitechapel. Don’t worry my little Petunia’s, Benedict has a Romanceland plan.

Killing two birds with one stone plan. If Althea can teach the prostitutes manners, Benedict could close the brothel, and Althea could earn enough money to find herself a better place to live. Althea on the other hand also has a plan, maybe the prostitutes and Benedict could give her some pointers on how to seduce a man. That way she could set herself up as a rich man’s mistress, and not be a drain on her brothers. Now, we all know that neither her brothers nor Benedict are going to agree to Althea’s plan, but this is fiction and I’ll play along. And, it is a way for the author to introduce sexual tension into the book.

I liked both Althea and Benedict, even though Althea’s stubbornness became a little irritating and her mistress plan was ridiculous. But, I absolutely loved Benedict. He was an alpha hero, but not the Steve Morgan type alpha. No, I would say he is the Alan Alda alpha male. Yes, there can be an Alan Alda alpha! Gentle, but strong, always there to help the downtrodden, but a very manly man. Hmmmmmmm, manly man vs. Alan Alda, let me rethink this. Maybe Benedict is an alpha male like Dwayne Johnson. Wait a minute, I’ve got it! I know, I know! Benedict is an Alpha male like Dwayne Alda! Anyway, I loved Benedict.

There is a sharp turn in this story; we are directed away from the tutoring prostitute’s storyline. Benedict’s ancestry is solved. Just when Benedict and Althea are becoming comfortable with each other, Benedict finds out who dumped him on Ettie’s doorstep all those years ago. This leads to a big struggle, a separation, and an eventual satisfying conclusion. Other than Althea’s stubbornness, the only other issue I had with this story was that there were two stories being told, and there wasn’t enough pages for either of those stories to be fully developed. I liked both storylines, I just wish they hadn’t seemed so rushed.

Just in case you were wondering. All of the Trewloves put in an appearance. We even get an epilogue with all of them in it, and they are grandparents. It was rather sweet. Overall, I thought this was a strong finish to a series that I mostly liked, except for the one I didn’t finish. I do recommend Beauty Tempts the Beast. It was nice to see all the Trewloves find their HEA, maybe I’ll even go back and try to read The Earl Takes a Fancy – in my spare time. Anyway, go ahead, enjoy! Read Beauty Tempts the Beast.
 

Time/Place: England 1873

Sensuality: Hot

The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotand and Wales by Anne Stuart

October 6, 2020

 

Bodice Ripper Time
http://anne-stuart.com/

Man, it was like reading a book from the Wayback Machine, except The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotland and Wales wasn't a book written a long time ago. It's brand new! This book is here, now, in all its offensive glory. If you have never read an Anne Stuart book, you might be a little shocked when you read this one. On the other hand, if you've read her books, then you won’t be surprised. And, depending on your mood when you read it, you might even like it. Or, maybe you will become offended and throw it against the wall. I think it all may boil down to your mood. Sort of. If you are in the mood to read a book about a disreputable rake/hero who is really immoral, unscrupulous, unethical, (I'm running out of descriptions), then this book will hit the spot. I guess I was in the mood, because I liked the book, or at least the parts with Christopher St. James Constant, Earl of Adderley and his heroine Byrony Marton. There is a big “if only” coming. I wish the author had left the secondary romance out, and focused entirely on Christopher and Bryony. If only she had concentrated on just one couple, this book would have received a higher rating from me.

First of all, let's talk about the title of this book. The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotland and Wales. I loved the title, I thought it was fun. I also thought it was a great nod to the romance genre. I was excited when I saw the title, and happy to see Anne Stuart write a historical romance again.

In the first few chapters of the story, we are introduced to Christopher, and he lived up to all of my "Stuart" expectations. He was a rotter. It opens up with him, and his friend, George Latherby, drunk. They were both really, really wasted. Being the hero of the book, Christopher is of course not a drooling drunk, but a handsome, sleepy-eyed, arrogant drunk. Well, it seems that his "pox-ridden" friend Latherby has lost a large sum of money to him in a game of cards. The problem arises when George asks for an extended time to pay, and Christopher refuses. You see, George is about to walk down the aisle and marry a boring, unattractive woman who has a large dowry. The dowry is why he is marrying her. He’s going to do that in just a couple of weeks, so he doesn’t quite see the problem with getting an extension. But, Christopher doesn't really care, he's bored. He, like me, was in a mood. He suggest they kidnap George's bride, go to Scotland and force her to marry George. George doesn’t care. In fact, he agrees that Christopher can “have” her first. It also makes no difference to George whether Christopher leaves any seed behind. As you can tell, these guys are not anywhere close to being hero material. But yet, according to Ms. Stuart one of them is. Anyway, George and Christopher/Kit are off to kidnap a bride. Of course, there is a slight problem.

Neither George nor Christopher are capable of doing the dirty work, so they hire a couple of blockhead goons. The low-life guys have never seen George’s bride, so when they break into her room they find two women. What’s a thug to do but grab both women? Now, there are two women, Cecilia the beautiful, and Bryony the ugly freckled one. Bryony is the bride.  We are off on a road trip.

Road trip. So, the kidnappers and kidnap-pees are in a coach on their way to Scotland. George falls asleep, and Cecilia faints, which leaves the other two combatants staring at each other. Christopher/Kit is immediately attracted to the so-called plain Bryony. It must be the freckles. He is entranced with them. Do you know how I know that? Because my little Petunia's, he mentions those freckles 500 gazillion times in the book. Bryony is also intrigued with Christopher/Kit. She has twitching parts. Oh how I wish Cecilia wasn’t in the carriage with them, she was a distraction. Following behind is the handsome Bow street runner who was hired to find Cecilia. He is also a distraction. Which leads me to my “if only” pondering.

If only. There were so many times in this book when Christopher/Kit and Bryony are dialoging, or bantering. Throughout the book we get many glimpses of Christopher, and we really need to see those glimpses. There are so many questions when it comes to this man. But, we never actually see what makes him into the awful man that he is. Bryony, on the other hand, is a typical ugly, freckled, red-head aka gorgeous woman-but-doesn’t-know-it heroine. She falls in love with him, she sees him differently than the rest of us. We are never given the chance to see into his mind. Why is that? Well my little Petunia’s, every single time there is some insight into his character, the secondary romance between Cecilia and Bow Street interrupts. If only more time was given to the main couple, maybe we would have been able to see for ourselves what Bryony saw. As it is, I didn’t see any redeeming quality in Christopher/Kit, and I really wanted to.

If only number two. This book had so much going for it. Christopher/Kit had all the makings of a wonderful Stuart hero. But it seemed to me that the same things kept happening over and over again. As I said earlier, he mentioned her freckles 50 gazillion times. A lot of the dialog was repetitive, as if the author wrote it one week, came back, forgot where they were, and wrote the same thing again. Christopher/Kit also left Bryony twice, broke her heart twice, and each time she was ready to take him back. If only I had been allowed to see why he was doing what he was doing. He was a complex character, but none of that complexity was explained, or maybe it was so subtle I couldn’t get it.

Epilogue.  The Absolutely Positively Worst Man in England, Scotland and Wales has an interesting epilogue. We find out what happens to our characters through one of their descendants. We are flipped into modern days. One of Kit and Bryony’s female descendants, Mary, is taking her fiancé Richard Latherby through the estate. While Richard is commenting on how much the paintings would bring in auction, Mary is wondering whether she and Richard are suited. Is there a sequel in the air?

Overall. I liked parts of this story. I actually liked Christopher/Kit; I just wish I could have been given more insight into why Bryony loved him. As I said, this reminded me of older romances. I remember when I started reading romances a long, long, long time ago, it was rare to get any look into the mind of the male characters. That is what happened in this book. This is a middle of the road recommendation, accompanied by a warning: watch what mood you’re in when you read it.

 
Time/Place: Regency England

Sensuality: Hot