The Cinderella Club -- anthology

The concept of this book was interesting to me and though I thought I could figure out the "twist," I hadn't read a good anthology in awhile and requested this one from NetGalley. It was okay. I know it's hard to build up a whole story with so few words and these authors did mostly okay. I was impressed that they managed to get at least a couple of scenes that crossed over into all four stories. Could have done with a little less beating about the head with how much the guys liked these gals (especially in the third story).

Cinderella Had it Easy  by Jennifer Conner
Cami is the one to set things off, showing off her grandmother's magical pendant, the one that helped win her the love of Cami's grandfather. The same story begins the broader arch for each of the main characters.
For Cami, she's quite shy because of the scars on her face, left there by a car accident when she was six. She's quite taken with the new host of the station where she works (which has history documenteries, is that even a a thing?). And he seems quite taken with her new body. Yes, wishing on the locket actually worked. And now Lance(lot!?!) seems quite interested in Cami. But can she trust that's it's going to last after the magic is gone?

Spellbound Cinderellaby Angela Ford
Tess is totally attracted to Parker Walsh, the famous world-traveling photographer. But other than once spilling her coffee on him, she doesn't believe that he could ever see her as anything special. I mean, the man probably dates the models that her firm employs. So when the Cinderella spell works and Parker invites Tess to a fundraising event, complete with new dress, Tess is initially ecstatic. But she's going to grab this 24 hours to enjoy for the rest of her life...

Second Chance Cinderella by Sharon Kleve
It's really interesting that this particular main character, Raven St. James,  is a phlebotomist. A person who draws blood for a living as the heroine? I would be very interested to read a full book about someone with this profession. Her particular crush is a doctor on her ward. Petite and black-haired (With jade eyes, no less), Raven is nothing like the tall, buxom, blonde nurses she sees on General Hospital. But the Cinderella spell give her the courage to wink at her crush. And he seems enchanted...

Cinderella's Enchanted Night by Amber Daulton
Wow. Annalise Gallagher's friends "joke" that she's a stalker. But sitting for an hour in the hot summer sun just to catch a glimpse of someone --- yeah, that's actually stalking. And creepy. She's an art framer working in the gallery across the street from her crush who is an art restorer/tour guide in a museum. Might have been a better story if it had been longer but this was not enough space for the story to be developed (or her creepiness to be offset.)

The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jeffries

Jeremy Keane is an artist looking for his lastest muse. And he thinks he's found her in the ravishing Lady Yvette Barlow. So they make an exchange. She'll pose for him if he'll show her some of the seedier sides of London. Of course, the more they learn about each other, they fall a little more in love.
But both have some back stories that make the road to true love less than smooth.
Sabrina Jeffries is a steady author and this book is no different. Interesting characters, a great story. It didn't need the last-minute twist.
I am interested in both the stories of Jeremy's sister, Mercedes, who is running the family business since Jeremy's not interested and Yvette's brother, the prefect alpha hero who hides his soft gooey center.
Coming out on July 21, 2015.
Followed by The Study of Seduction

Only a Promise by Mary Balogh

Chloe Muirhead is twenty-seven years old. At eighteen, her grandmother died and her debut into society was postponed. When she finally came out at twenty-one, her seventeen-year-old sister caused a scandal by running away with a married man. Her brother compounded the scandal by participating in a mockery of a duel. When the man's wife died and Chloe's sister married him, Chloe ventured out again. Only to be inundated by another shock of rumors when the daughter of the man who had courted Chloe's mother (only to marry another when he found out he was in need of funds) debuts and looks shockingly similar to Chloe. Rumors abound and the man who had publicly spurned her at twenty-one is one of the people rushing to spread rumors of her bastardy. Chloe decides to retire from society and asks her mother's godmother, a duchess, if she can perhaps become her companion. Instead, she is invited to their house as a guest, but she can't help but feel obliged.
Ralph meets Chloe when he visits his grandparents, the duke and duchess. He has felt massive amounts of guilt since he talked his three friends into going to war with him and they all died. Everyone except him, and even he was left with visible scars to remind him of what happened. Now, at twenty-six, he is being pressured to find a wife, since he is the last heir in the direct line. He is somewhat shocked when Chloe suggests they marry. She wants nothing except children and part of his reluctance in marrying is that he feels he has nothing to give.
Another lovely book in the Survivors' Club series and I can NOT wait for the next book and Imogen's story.

Four and a half stars

This book came out June 9, 2015

Survivors' Club #5

Follows Only Enchanting

Followed by Only a Kiss

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible Plus May 2024

Resorting to Murder -- Anthology edited by Martin Edwards

Summer is (finally) arriving in Montana. And this book is a perfect accompaniment to sunny days and higher temps. As I sat outside my summer cocktail, I quite enjoyed many of the stories in this book. Most are from famous authors but feature stories not well known (Conan Doyle's "Devil's Foot") or lesser known works/detectives. While it was fun reading some stories about detectives I might not otherwise know, there were some stories that were lesser known for specific reasons (ahem, they aren't as good as the author's regular works.)
An interesting mix of Golden Age (and some others) authors makes this worth a read.

Murder at Beechwood by Alyssa Maxwell

I read the first book in this series but not the second so I can only assume that it was in that book that our heroine, Emma Cross, picked up the reputation as being someone who helps wayward souls, including a (former?) prostitute (which does NOT endear her to the upper crust family of one of Emma's (former?) admirers). It's this reputation that is probably the reason that Emma wakes up one morning to find a baby on her front porch, apparently abandoned. Does the death of a man dressed in groom's clothing have anything to do with the baby? Does the apparent murder of one of the upper crust, one of the people that Emma suspects might have been connected to the baby have an any significance? 

The historical notes and the way that Maxwell works her information into the stories is so seamless, I didn't even think that it might be based on fact.

A wonderful addition to the series and I can't wait to start Maxwell's new series as well, the snippet in this book starting out so well.

50 Ways to Ruin a Rake by Jade Lee

Trevor Anaedsley, the heir of a duke, is in the country avoiding creditors and his grandfather who is determined that Trevor should marry. While there, he is annoying the heck out of his old tutor's daughter, Mellie Smithson. Mellie thinks that her scientific father might actually pay attention to her and her scientific designs if only that -- former pupil -- would leave. Not to mention the fact that he keeps getting embroiled in her family's plan to marry her off to her cousin, the hulking poet, Ronnie.
So Trevor comes up with the idea that they should pretend to be engaged. That way they can each further their own plans without ever having to do the actual deed. Does this ever work in romance novels? Nope. No it doesn't.
Mellie was an interesting heroine. Definitely an example of plopping down a character with modern ideas but I think that Lee made it work. The rest of the story was a bit uneven for me (especially the ending which was WAY overdone) but mostly a good book that won't deter me from reading more by this author.

The Lady Hellion by Joanna Shupe

Sophia and Quint have both been damaged, yet are moving on with their lives. Well, Sophia is anyway. She's been running around London, often dressed as a man, helping the poor women of the city, the ones who no one else seems to notice.
Quint, on the other hand, has locked himself away in his house suffering with acute agoraphobia and a few other mental issues that make him fear going mad like his father. Yet, the problems with Lady Sophia are driving him mad.
Compounding the issues is the fact that the two are wildly attracted to each other but Quint is just as wildly against marriage and branching out his damaged family tree.
Add to that the problem of several "ladies of the night" who have been disappearing and then ending up dead in the Thames with their right hands cut off....
A thoroughly enjoyable book. I loved that Quint's problems weren't solved just because of Sophie's magic vajayjay, that he actually had to work and hadn't overcome them, even at the end of the book.
It felt like a book with bits and pieces of other things I had read before, but put together in a new and delightful story. Definitely three and a half stars.