Showing posts with label HarperCollins Publishers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HarperCollins Publishers. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

I read the first 30 or so pages of this book and then the last 30 or so pages and wasn't really sure that I wanted to read the middle. But I'm glad I did. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first but I did like seeing the process of Helen and Rhys falling in love. We saw them get engaged in Cold-Hearted Rake when Helen's family was penniless and she thought she'd get engaged to the uncouth but very wealthy Rhys Winterborne. But when Helen's family comes into money, her well-meaning sister-in-law tells Rhys the engagement is off. But Helen doesn't want that. So this book starts with her seducing Rhys so that they'll have to get married. So why is this book so long? Well, it turns out Helen has a secret. One that she doesn't realize until after the seduction might make Rhys call off the wedding.
I'm not sure why this book was so rocky for me. It's frustrating when you can't pinpoint exactly why a book isn't clicking, it just didn't. For regular Kleypas readers, that may not be the case.

Three and a half stars
This book came out May 31, 2016
Follows Cold-Hearted Rake
Followed by Devil in Spring
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Wilde Child by Eloisa James

Two sisters. Thaddeus Erskine Shaw, heir to a dukedom, has been interested in two sisters. But both have married other people. He certainly isn't interested in the third. Lady Joan Wilde is most certainly not a biological Wilde. She has the blond hair and features of the man her mother had a wild affair with (and eventually ran away with him.) Lady Joan is a living scandal. And that's even before she decides to don breeches and play Hamlet. Thaddeus can't believe that her father would allow it. Actually, no one in the family seems to have minded Joan's earlier brushes with scandal so maybe they won't care about this one. But Thaddeus will certainly make it his business to stop her.
And that is mostly covers the blurb on the cover. Quite frankly, I was trying to figure out how that would fill a whole book because an uptight man berating the woman he eventually falls in love with isn't a book that I particularly wanted to read. But, of course, there is more to the story and a lot if it has to do with why Thaddeus is so rigid and seeing him relax a bit. Also getting to see Joan, who starts off pretty awesome and sure of herself, really get to stretch her wings and then find her place. 

Four stars
Wildes of Lindow Castle #6
Follows Say Yes to the Duke
This book comes out March 30th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy from the library June 2024

Sunday, October 25, 2020

The Duke Effect by Sophie Jordan

A female in a time when women aren't allowed to be doctors, Nora has taken on her deceased father's name in responding to correspondence about medical matters. But one specific set of letters comes back to bite her.
Formerly of the King's army, Colonel Constantine Sinclair's three male cousins have all died and he is now the direct heir to a duke so he's back in England to learn his new position. He is not happy to learn that the man whose letters he so looked forward to are from a twenty-year-old girl. But then she decides that she is going to insert herself into solving a family medical mystery and proving to Constantine that she really can do the things she promised.
I really struggled with the rating on this one because Jordan is an amazing writer but... I really disliked Nora. She was SO annoyingly headstrong, not listening to anyone else in the story. That can sometimes be overcome if a character's decisions make some sort of sense but Nora's aren't very logical to the context of the story. 


Two and a half stars
This book come out October 27th
ARC kindly provided by HarpersCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Saturday, October 24, 2020

My Last Duchess by Eloisa James

Hugo Wilde, the Duke of Lindow, has just received his divorce decree. His faithless second wife is no longer "his wife." His twin sister is encouraging him to go to London and try to find a third wife. Hugo is not excited at the thought but he is realistic. While his oldest four children are close to grown, his younger four will definitely need a mother. At his first ball, he spots Ophelia, Lady Astley and falls immediately in love. And for the purposes of the novella, it is a pretty true love but when she says to back off, he does (what? I love it!) because the course to true love can't run smooth even for a duke in a novella. 
This was a fast and fun read even with one of my least favorite tropes (love at first sight). Getting to see how Hugo convinced Phee to marry a man with eight children (though his kids seemed to do most of the convincing) was the light story that I needed right now.

Four stars
This book comes out October 27th
Prequel to Wilde in Love
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers
Opinions are my own

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Emerald Blaze by Ilona AndrewsCatalina and Alessandro are thrown together again when, once again, powerful Primes threaten to destroy the city. Her new job as a Warden of Texas earns her (and her family) some protection as a new house but that also means that she is being thrown into situations that would endanger the lives of anyone less powerful than herself. That also means that she sometimes needs to rely on others that she'd rather not, including Alessandro.
The Big Bad in this one just isn't as well developed as it has been in other stories. And the revelation of the power behind the big bad was sort of a deflation. I really hope that we get to learn more about Alessandro soon. He is still a little too much of a mystery to really care about. But you still have an amazing family and their stories do let them grow more and the epilogue definitely made me immediately want to jump right into the next book.

Four stars
This book came out August 25, 2020
Follows Sapphire Flames
Followed by Ruby Fever
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread July 2022 as an Audible book I own

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Dance Away with Me by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Dance Away with MeIf you like a Man Who Steps Up, this might be a book for you. It takes awhile but Ian North eventually falls in line. Tess Hartsong is emotionally brittle. Her husband died young and, two years later, she is still working through her grief (because grief really, really sucks.) But she decides that a rural area is going to be the place to heal. Also healing? 2 am dance parties. But her neighbor isn't into that. At least the male half isn't. But he ends up as a single father and Tess steps in. Well, "steps" might be a soft word for it. She is sort of barreling her way through life, undirected and decides to take on an orphan as well as teaching all of the teens in an abstinence only town all about prophylactics.
I have to admit, I was hoping for another Natural Born Charmer or Breathing Room. Both start with female characters on a journey (okay, it's a common plot device,) and we get to see them move through the book. And it took me several days to figure out why this book didn't quite hit that button for me and I finally figured out that the amount of resolution nowhere nears the amount of angst. Tess is so bottled up for most of the book, then sort of nuts, but then, poof!, she's all good. In both of the other books I mentioned, we get to see more healing and getting to see that depth of character is part of what makes those books so good. Also missing in this book? Relationship development. At least between Tess and Ian. It all felt so surface and SEP is usually so good at creating the kind of relationship that I sigh over.

Three stars
This book comes out June 9th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Saturday, May 30, 2020

The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis

The Summer Deal by Jill ShalvisBrynn, Eli, and Kinsey went to the same summer camp for many years. Eli and Kinsey were tight friends but Brynn was often on her own. In fact, Kinsey was her camp bully. Even though they're now grown-up, the hurt is there. So, when Brynn comes home, already tender from a break-up from a con who took all of her money and her grandmother's necklace, she's not exactly excited to move in with the two. Well, actually, Eli's gotten pretty hot so Brynn's okay with him but Kinsey is the same old mean girl.
But Kinsey's got her own things she's dealing with. Including a pretty heavy illness. She's not exactly in a place where she can give a lot of empathy to others and she is trying to hold herself back so she doesn't hurt anyone later.
This was an interesting story. Like other books in the Wildstone series, the only connection is that they are set in the same town. Also, the romance takes more of a backseat to the other relationships in the book. Maybe not AS good as some of Shalvis's books but regular readers will not be disappointed.

Three and a half stars
Follows Almost Just Friends
Followed by The Forever Girl
This book comes out January 12th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Friday, May 15, 2020

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James

Say Yes to the Duke (The Wildes of Lindow Castle, #5)
Viola Astley knows she's not a real Wilde. Her mother married into the family when she was two. Though the Duke and all of her siblings have accepted that she's a true "Wilde Childe," Viola has worked herself into such a thought pattern that she is physically ill before balls, even before just meeting eligible men. She isn't a Wilde by blood and, shorter than the rest, plumper than the rest, she doesn't even look like she belongs. But then she meets the new local vicar and falls in love. Too bad he already has a fiancee. And really too bad that a duke seems to have set his eyes on her.
Devin Lucas Augustus Elstan, Duke of Wynter, is ready to get married. He might as well marry a Wilde, but not the adopted daughter. Instead, he'll check out the one who is generally known to not be a Wilde by blood but is by name. Even his uncle pushing him to meet Miss Astley doesn't make him interested in Viola. But when she stands up to him, well, that catches his notice.
This is a fairly quiet book. Not a lot of conflict and that was just lovely right now. Even the last misunderstanding wasn't a Big Misunderstanding because they actually talked to each other.

Four stars
Follows Say No to the Duke
Followed by Wilde Child
This book comes out May 19th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy from the library June 2024

Monday, April 20, 2020

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha RaiKatrina King grew up with an abusive father who pushed her into the spotlight. She married a much older man to get away. When the man died, Katrina was left a fortune that she quickly developed. She also struggled with agoraphobia but has largely conquered it. She enjoys her life and her routines. That's what makes her new notoriety so heartbreaking. She shared a table with a guy in a coffee shop, shared several sentences with him, all of which were captured by an enterprising blogger, and now the world wants to know who she is and whether their meeting has led to an epic romance. Katrina wants none of it. So she escapes with her bodyguard to his family's fruit farm.
Jas just wants to keep Katrina safe. Yes, he's been her bodyguard for almost a decade. Yes, he's developed some feelings for her that go deeper than what a bodyguard usually feels but that doesn't mean he's going to act on it. He's just going to do his job and keep her safe.
But this is a romance novel. So that means that means forced proximity might force some of those feelings to make themselves known....
I really liked the first book in this series and that may have placed my expectations a bit too high for this book. This is a fine story and I liked Katrina but the bodyguard trope (which, to be fair, Rai doesn't exactly follow) is not a fave. There was also a lot of concentration on Jas's back story and it felt a little more weighted to his backstory than hers.

Three and a half stars
Follows The Right Swipe
Followed by First Comes Like
This book comes out April 21st
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Monday, February 17, 2020

Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas

Tom Severin, will you please by my book boyfriend?  You start the book only having five emotions (having long ago decided that the rest were superfluous) and end up with all the feels. The last possible Big Misunderstanding is circumvented because you are so in love with your bride and so aware of needing to be a decent human being in order to keep her.
Chasing Cassandra by Lisa KleypasWas this book perfect? I can't remember much about Cassandra other than that she's gorgeous but has a heart of gold so... maybe not. But it was damn near.
Cassandra Ravenel is stoked for her twin. Of course she is. Pandora is marrying the love of her life and he's a good man. Cassandra just wishes she could find her own oyster. Nothing shocks her more than, after confessing that feeling to West, Tom stands up from the chair he was sitting in (not hiding, just not able to get out without it being awkward) and offers to be that man for her. Her family is against the match (at least the men are; the women are willing to wait and see.) But Kelypas takes us through their relationship over the course of several months as Tom learns to have all the feels because Cassandra convinces his to read fiction. I'm not crying; you're crying.

Four and a half stars
This book comes out February 18th, 2020
Follows Devil's Daughter
Followed by Devil in Disguise
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby February 2023

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis

Almost Just Friends by Jill ShalvisPiper Manning's parents died when she was young then her grandmother died when Piper was 18 leaving Piper in charge of her younger brother, Gavin, and her younger sister, Willow. Neither Gavin nor Willow gave Piper an easy time but she's gotten them both out of the house and on their way. She's just about to achieve her dream of selling her grandparents' property and going to school in Colorado when they both come home, needing family. Which Piper might need as well.
Trying to change their family rut is painful. Also painful? Opening her heart to the tall, dark, and handsome man she meets in a storm, Camden Reid. He's in Wildstone to reconnect with his father after his brother's death but it may be that Piper is the person to help him to stay.
Piper's brother Gavin also gets his HEA with an old flame.
A nice addition to the series. I wish Piper and Gavin had gotten separate stories because we didn't get to see the true development of either but it a good read.

Four stars
This book came out January 21st
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own