The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

Oh my. This book starts with one of my favorite first chapters ever. We meet the hero, we meet the heroine, we get a nice snapshot of them both, their attitudes, their personality, and a little bit of their background. Emma Gladstone is a seamstress, a vicar's daughter, who worked for months on a dress for the Duke of Ashbury's fiancee. When he was wounded in the war, his fiancee decamped and never paid for the dress. But Emma needs that money. So she shows up at the duke's residence. In the wedding gown. And he proposes.
The Duke of Ashbury (name currently in dispute), was horribly disfigured in the war. His fiancee was horribly disgusted by him and the wedding was called off. But he needs  a wife because his current heir is... well, a prat. When he meets Emma, he's charmed by her and... well, he proposes.
The rest of the story is the two of them finding their way to an HEA with some delightful twists and turns along the way.
Emma's friends are most definitely sequel bait - animal loving Penelope, the clock winding Alexandra and the mad scientist Nicola - but not in an obnoxious way. They were handled with the lightest of touches. There are a lot of romance tropes (including a ripped "bodice") and some modern, but not overt, references (false news, anyone?). There are two potentials for One Last Big Misunderstanding and they are deftly avoided. This book is the best kind of mix of Beauty and the Beast with a touch of Batman and a soupcon of Gone With the Wind, I  read this book in one fast and furious sitting, grinning fiercely the entire time. Absolutely delightful.

Five stars
This book comes out August 22

The Ethical Slut, Third Edition by Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton

I've had this on my TBR list for a long time so when I saw the third edition as a NetGalley ARC, I jumped at the chance to read it. It took me a long time to get into the rhythm of the book. A lot of the things that were possibly shocking in the first book seemed a little more tame now. However, the book is open and accepting of all relationships (sexual and nonsexual; even including monogamy). All of the relationships and orientations are described in a frank, knowledgeable, non-judgmental manner that makes the book easier to read. Is this book for everyone? Probably not. It would probably best serve in a sociology class on sexuality but is also a good primer people who are starting to explore sexuality outside the bounds of one-man, one-woman.

Three and a half stars
This book came out August 14

The Druid Next Door by E.J. Russell

I'm really enjoying the world building that Ms. Russell has put together in this series. The second book follows the first. One of three brothers has been exiled from the world of Faerie, in this case, Mal. Then the brother discovers he's in lust/love with a human. Except he's NOT a human! But even he doesn't know that.
In this case, it's Bryce MacLeod, an ardent environmentalist. He knows that Mal is a super-attractive being but he's more distracted by the fact that the man can't recycle correctly. Bryce wants to save the world and has always been connected to nature but now he's discovered that he's a druid and he's quite literally connected to Mal.
I wish we had seen more of Bryce's training. I was also irked by a trope familiar to romantic readers of "You are my one special person and I know that because everything I ever thought about sex has changed but only because of you!" Not only was this trope introduced, it was thrown at the reader over and over and over again. Am I still excited for the third book in this series? Oh yeah.

Three stars
This book comes out August 21
Follows Cutie and the Beast
Followed by the Bad Boy's Bard

The Paris Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal

Maggie Hope is again fighting the Axis powers in World War II. This time, she's behind enemy lines, searching for a fellow spy who it is feared has been captured. While there, she is also looking for her sister. Interspersed are bits and pieces of Sarah and Hugh's work as well. There is a lot going on in this story. A LOT. But MaNeal is generally successful in weaving together all the plot points. Maggie is on the verge of becoming less relatable, which was one of the best parts of this series. I hope that she'll be a little more human and a little less super-spy in the next book.

This book comes out today
Four stars

She Be Damned by M.J. Tjia

Heloise Chancey is not a prostitute. She is an actress and a courtesan who helps solve mysteries on the side. And that's why she's posing as a prostitute, in the hopes that she can help figure out why these women are turning up dead, all of their sexual organs removed. It becomes personal when her maid is accused of the murders.
The book is as much (if not more) about Heloise's exploration of her past as it is about solving the murders. There is an exploration of what it was like to be a courtesan in London, the views of abortions in those times (touches on today), and racism.
I was sort of surprised to learn that M. J. Tjia was a woman. The first person point of view felt a bit uncomfortable, as though it rang a false note. At first I thought was a gender thing but I think it may be more of a time period thing. Heloise seems very much like a modern woman who was plunked into the 1800s. Not that that couldn't have existed, but it felt very odd. And it kept me disconnected from both the character and the book. I actually connected more with the Li Leen interjections than with Heloise.
I'm not sure who to recommend this book (novella? It's not even 200 pages). I feel like some people might enjoy it but it was not a good book for me. I would give it two stars but it was an interesting enough book that it made it up to two and a half.

This book came out August 1

Gentlemen Prefer Heiresses by Lorraine Heath

After "An Affair with a Notorious Heiress," I was eager to read Gina's story. She was so sweet and so obviously in love with her sister's husband's younger brother. For his part, Andrew has quite a bit of lust for the young Gina, but he knows that he's not the right man for her. He's a younger son and she's an American heiress. It's too bad that he just can't seem to stay away. Nor to refuse her request for a little adventure.
It's an okay story but I wish Gina and Andrew had had a chance to have a little more.

Three stars
This novella came out yesterday

Archie Archives: The Double Date and Other Stories (Volume 3)

I loved reading Archie in the 90s so the chance to pick up an ARC with some of the original Archie comics seemed like a great opportunity. And it was really an okay book. We get to see some of Archie's development but not really anybody else's. Except for hair color, Betty and Veronica are fairly interchangeable. We don't get to see much of Jughead or even Reggie. The character we get to see most other than Archie is his dog. There was one "game" page and several written stories that I don't remember being a part of later comics. A nice bit of nostalgia I guess but  nothing I would have wanted to read otherwise.

Two and a half stars
This book came out November 22