Tag: historical romance

Book Review: An Improper Gentleman (Improper Agreements #2) by Audra Wells

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 271 pages
Author: Audra Wells
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Bridget has learned not to trust an easy smile or flattering tongue, and Lord Archibald has both in spades. To make her time with him at Brookside Manor more tolerable–and to use it to her benefit–she agrees to do one activity with him every day in exchange for a fact about their host, Lord Eaton. However, she will only agree on one condition: there must be no touching of any kind.

Archie is used to young women swooning whenever he is near, so Miss Hall’s obvious reticence intrigues him. He has never had to prove himself and is more than willing to try to win her over. Much to his chagrin, his efforts only seem to make him look foolish while in her company.

When a woman once scorned refuses to fall victim to charm, and a man of leisure finds himself falling short at every turn, a hilarious battle of wills ensues.

An Improper Gentleman is a clean romance and is the second book in the Improper Agreements series. It can be read as a stand-alone but is best enjoyed in order.

LOVE THE BANTER.

Two books read from Audra Wells and I am becoming an absolute fan. I love the way she writes banter and dialogue between the love interests. It’s cheeky, yet there’s so much sincerity as the romance develops that the swoon factor is also high.

I did want to shake the FMC a little bit towards the end. I understood her difficulty trusting, but I thought she’d stop running away at last. With very little change in setting I thought the plot moved well. It’s short and fast paced and I loooved Archie. The opposites attract was in full force here and I love love love when there’s lots of forced proximity.

Overall audience notes:

  • Regency Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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ARC Book Review: A Time Traveler’s Masquerade (A McQuivey’s Costume Shop Romance) by Sian Ann Bessey

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Time Travel Romance
Length: 296 pages
Author: Sian Ann Bessey
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: April 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Romance blossoms when Isla Crawford steps into McQuivey’s Costume Shop in London and is swept back in time to 1605, where she and Lord Bancroft attempt to thwart Guy Fawkes’s Gunpowder Plot.

One moment, Isla Crawford is inside McQuivey’s Costume Shop trying on a Jacobean-style gown for the parliamentary Autumn Ball, and the next, she is standing in an unfamiliar garden, barefoot, coatless, and at the mercy of a fierce storm. Confused, she seeks refuge in a Tudor manor, where she discovers that she has inexplicably traveled back to 1605, mere weeks before the culmination of Guy Fawkes’s infamous Gunpowder Plot.

Simon Hartworth, Lord Bancroft, finds his orderly seventeenth-century life disrupted when a mysterious woman appears on his sister’s doorstep during a storm. Intrigued by the stranger’s quirks and bewildering speech, he feels compelled to protect her and heed her warnings about a fatal plot against Parliament. As Simon is drawn into Isla’s dangerous scheme to stop the evildoers, he can’t help but also feel drawn to her.

With seemingly no way to get back home, Isla uses her twenty-first-century knowledge of the past to try to thwart Guy Fawkes and his coconspirators without altering the course of history forever. She and Simon must race to unravel the threads of the treasonous plot even as they wonder how their hearts will navigate their deepening connection and the seemingly insurmountable four centuries that separate their lives.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain for the gifted ARC.

A GOOD READ.

I liked this one! It’s a quick and easy read with a lot of historical aspects. Flying back to the early 1600’s, Isla is taken in by Simon and his family. I loved the soft and supportive nature of Simon’s family and the trust they had in Isla and hopefully stopping a villainous plot.

There were some POV moments from Guy Fawkes and that did take me out of the story a bit. I didn’t think it was necessary to the plot line to get perspective so those parts stuck out to me most.

I enjoyed the soft romance between Isla and Simon. They were an easy pair to love. I adored all of the interactions they had together and watching them grow to care for one another. There’s some good suspense and I liked how the time travel aspects worked out in this book (aka it stayed mostly in one time period for the book which is my personal preference vs. going back and forth).

Overall audience notes:

  • Time travel romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: weapons violence

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ARC/ALC Book Review: Lady Knight (The Diamonds #2) by Amalie Howard

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Historical Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Amalie Howard
Publisher: Joy Revolution
Release Date: April 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Bestselling author Amalie Howard delivers the unputdownable companion novel to Queen Bee, Lady Knight, which follows the daughter of a duke defying the rules of high society in regency-era London with the help of friends, including the resident rake.

Lady Zenobia “Zia” Osborn, a duke’s daughter, is frustrated that her entire life has been predetermined. What good is skill or intelligence if one is forced to suffocate it because of one’s sex? She’d much rather make her mark on the world than bat her eyelashes for the ton.

Zia only comes alive in the Lady Knights, a clandestine social club for rebellious girls. In it, she is free to compose music, fence, read controversial literature, and save orphans from destitution by any means necessary. Aside from her closest confidantes, no one knows about Zia’s indecorous other life. . . .

Until Mr. Rafi Nasser, a rogue with secrets of his own, finds out. Shocked yet intrigued by his best friend’s younger sister, he agrees to keep Zia’s secret—if only to help her avoid utter scandal.

Thank you to Get Underlined for the gifted copy and PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook.

I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS.

Let me tell y’all what I loved most about this book…any time Rafi and Zia were on the page together. Off the charts chemistry, incredible banter, and the best kind of heated interactions. I loved loved loved them so much. Their time together continually saved this book for me.

Now for what bugged me, the side quests and most of the rest of the plot. The themes were kind of shoved down my throat rather than woven in and it felt like the only thing anyone could talk about. And all of the Frankenstein commentary was boring.

There were some good scenes scattered throughout I enjoyed about friendships and family connections and following what makes you happy. I did love all of the painting and music composition aspects.

This was my first book by this author (I haven’t read the first book in this series and had no issues. This can easily be read as a standalone), and I’m unsure if I’ll pick up another?

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Historical Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: February 2025

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The month of love. And a lot of good books! I love seeing all of the covers together at the end of the month.

  • Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
  • [ARC] You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon
  • Here’s the Thing (The Seddledowne #4) by Susan Henshaw
  • [Short story] The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez
  • [ALC] A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall
  • Sweet Wicked Vows (A Wicked Dade Brothers Book #1) by Rachel Donnan
  • Kingdom of Claw (The Ashen #2) by Demi Winters
  • [ARC] If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley
  • A Crown So Silver (Fair Folk #2) by Lyra Selene
  • We Redeemed the Rain (Meadowbrook Ranch #1) by Ashley Dill
  • [Short story] Please Be Mine by K. Sinko
  • [ALC] Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
  • [ARC] One More Wish (Sugar Valley #2) by Lindsey Lanza
  • Wings of Starlight by Allison Saft
  • [Novella] A Churn in the Dark (Into the Churn #2.5) by Hayley Reese Chow
  • The Rose Bargain (The Rose Bargain #1) by Sasha Peyton Smith
  • Beautifully Broken Control (Sutter Lake #4) by Catherine Cowles
  • [ARC/ALC] The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms Duology #1) by Amelie Wen Zhao
  • Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen
  • The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
  • Beautifully Broken Redemption (Sutter Lake #5) by Catherine Cowles
  • [ARC] The Emerald Alliance (The Otherworlds #3) by Courtney Millecam
  • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Volume #8) by Beth Brower
  • [ALC] The Dark Mirror (The Bone Season #5) by Samantha Shannon
  • [ARC] The Serendipity (Only Magic in the Building) by Emma St. Clair
  • The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson
  • [ARC] The Magic of Light by Jordan Abitz
  • [ALC] Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
  • [ARC] Secret or Shutout (D.C. Eagles #4) by Leah Brunner
  • Under Your Spell by Laura Wood
  • Taken With Trouble (Caught in Chaos #2) by Jenessa Fayeth
  • We Will Be Heroes (The Vigil & Ante Files #2) by Megan McCullough

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