Tag: historical romance

Book Review: To Forge Her Fate (Hearts of Harewood #1) by Kasey Stockton

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 358 pages
Author: Kasey Stockton
Publisher: Golden Owl Press
Release Date: March 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two worlds. Two hearts. Can they ever meld together as one?

Eliza Rose: accomplished in pianoforte, riding, drawing, three languages, and the art of flirtation using only a fan.

Jacob Ridley: skilled blacksmith, honest tradesman, appreciates a hot meal, and not susceptible to any lady’s charm.

Until Eliza needs help, and Jacob cannot turn her away. Now she has him wrapped around her dainty finger. But a union between them is forbidden on both sides of Society, and Jacob cannot afford to make enemies, or his business will suffer.

But can he afford to sacrifice his heart?

Book one in the Hearts of Harewood series, To Forge Her Fate is a sweet and clean Regency romance of unequal social status and forbidden love.

I LIKED THIS.

I love a good different stations/forbidden romance in regency books. I love seeing how the characters come together and work through the barriers before them to find the love and hopes of a future together. I love Kasey Stockton’s books and am excited to continue this series.

I loved both of the main characters Eliza and Jacob. There were POV’s from both of them which made it wonderfully easy to understand thoughts and desires and where each person was coming from. I loved that Jacob was a blacksmith too!! And I really loved seeing Eliza find her home and to reconnect with her sister. There were many good moments throughout that I appreciated the sentiment and thought behind.

Overall audience notes:

  • Regency Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low

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ARC Book Review: A Tartan Love (The Earls of Cairnfell #1) by Nichole Van

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 380 pages
Author: Nichole Van
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Release Date: July 29th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two ancient rivers, twin brothers, and a Scottish king who divided them. Welcome to life in the shadow of Cairnfell.

Lady Isla Kinsey knows that the animosity between her family, the Dukedom of Grayburn, and their distant kinsmen, the Earldom of Northcairn, is the stuff of legends—six generations of duels fought, ladies ruined, and gentlemen betrayed. Therefore, falling in love with a son of the enemy house would be, in a word, apocalyptic. So when Captain Tavish Balfour, second son of the Earl of Northcairn, returns home after Waterloo—distressingly handsome with eyes that see straight into her soul—Lady Isla is determined to resist his allure. She will not fall in love with the rogue . . . uh-hum, again.

Granted, the not-falling-in-love part would be a tad bit easier if Isla and Tavish weren’t already married.

Captain Tavish Balfour has cashed out of his military commission and is ready to start a new life far away from the Scottish Highlands of his birth. But before he sets sail into his future, there is the pesky matter of his marriage to Lady Isla Kinsey to resolve. As teenagers, in the sun-drenched warmth of a Highland summer, they tied the knot of their handfasting—an ill-advised decision he has regretted ever since. Thankfully, unlike their English neighbors, Scottish law allows for divorce in situations such as theirs.

Unfortunately for Tavish, Isla is every whit as captivating and lovely as his memories recall. As for Isla, she fears Tavish will reawaken the unconventional woman she was becoming all those years ago.

Yet even if they were to fall in love again, what could come of it? The history of acrimony between their families still casts a long shadow, and the forces that shredded their love in the past have not miraculously changed since. Can Isla and Tavish find a way to claim one another without betraying everyone and everything they love?

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY.

PERMANENTLY. I am not the same woman before reading this book. AND HOW DOES NICHOLE VAN KEEP DOING IT? A very incoherent review may be incoming of me just shouting TO READ THIS ONE ALREADY. IT’S A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR HER BOOKS. DO IT OKAY. CLOSED DOOR BOOKS CAN STILL BE SEXY AND HEATED.

The first chapter will take you out (IYKYK – DO NOT READ THE SUMMARY OKAY JUST TRUST ME). And then you’ll proceed to binge read this entire book because taking it slow? NOT AN OPTION. The most perfectly placed flashback chapters only added to the angst and tension between these two.

I need a new kindle too because it caught on FIIIIIIIIRE. HOT DANG THOSE KISSES. EVERY MOMENT SERVES THE ROMANCE. Seeing Tavish and Isla reconnect all over again??? Learning all of the new little things about who they’ve become??? STOP IT NOW. WHAT GEMS. I have melted. I will be thinking about this book for forever now.

I DON’T KNOW IF ANY OF THIS MADE SENESE JUST READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: loss of a parent (recounted), toxic family dynamics, brief war themes (recounted), physical altercations

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Book Review: Beauty and the Baron (Forever After Retellings #1) by Joanna Barker

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance Novella
Length: 121 pages
Author: Joanna Barker
Publisher: Love Letter Press
Release Date: January 15th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A penniless maid determined to save her father, a broken baron bent on isolation, and the undeniable draw between them that will lead to happiness—or disaster. 

Rose Sinclair has run out of options. With her father in prison and their bookshop sold to pay his debts, she has no choice but to turn to Henry Covington, the Baron Norcliffe. But the baron has more than earned his harsh reputation, and Rose must face his wrath in order to save her father—and herself.

Since the deaths of his parents, Henry Covington has isolated himself from society, ensuring the solitude of his estate with his deliberate callousness. However, when the beautiful Miss Sinclair appears on his doorstep, begging for a chance to repay her father’s debt to him, a moment of weakness finds him offering her a position—as a maid in his own house.

They both soon learn that first impressions are not to be believed. Henry is surprised—and intrigued—by Rose’s optimistic charm, while Rose slowly uncovers Henry’s true self, his compassion concealed behind the pain of loss and betrayal. But when a shadow from Henry’s past returns, their newfound hope is tested. They must decide for themselves who to trust—and what they will risk for their happily ever after.  

Beauty and the Baron is a Regency retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is a sweet/clean romance novella, and is Book 1 in a series of Regency retellings. The stories can be read in any order.

SHORT & SWEET.

What a sweet novella! I am trying to cross off books on Joanna Barker’s backlist and this was such a good quick read.

I liked the plot and even with a fast pace the romance was well developed. These were two characters both looking to change their circumstances and exhibited nice character arcs that had me rooting for them. I loved the direction the last act took and the heartfelt sincerity of connection between Henry and Rose.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Romance Novella
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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ARC Book Review: Roads of Resistance (Falcon Point Historical #2) by A.L. Sowards

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 370 pages
Author: A.L. Sowards
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release Date: July 15th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The line between enemy and ally can shift in a heartbeat.

1940

After her father is murdered, fifteen-year-old Ingrid Lang flees her home in Austria only to become separated from her siblings and stranded in the Dutch city of Arnhem with a pair of broken legs. Her future would be bleak if not for the kindness of a local doctor and his daughter Anita van der Veen. But before Ingrid can finish her healing and continue her journey to find her brother and sister, the forces of Nazi Germany overrun the Netherlands, leaving her trapped in an enemy occupation.

Four years later, Gerrit Hendriks, wanted by the Gestapo for his work with the underground, flees to his grandfather’s home in Arnhem, where he finds Ingrid and the van der Veens deeply ensconced in the local resistance. But suspicion, prejudice, and conflicting beliefs soon leave Ingrid and Gerrit at odds with each other.

As Ingrid and Gerrit gather intelligence for the Allies, smuggle airmen and other refugees to safety, and plan acts of defiance against the Nazis, irritations soften and teamwork blossoms. They soon realize that if they want to have any hope of outsmarting a German intelligence officer with a tie to Ingrid’s past, they’ll have to work together. As Ingrid and Gerrit begin to recognize just how much they mean to each other, they find themselves in the middle of an enormous airborne operation, and the imminent battles have the potential to change everything—for Ingrid, for Gerrit, and for the Netherlands.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for the gifted copy.

ABOUT TOOK ME OUT.

A.L. Sowards continues to be one of my favorite historical authors and this was another book that took me on an intense journey. I love the way that A.L. pulls out these complex characters and getting to see many angles of the war and how it effected everyone for years to come.

I just loved Gerrit and Ingrid. There are so many nuanced things I could discuss about them independently and as a couple that I could fill pages with. The resilience and strength and the willpower each step took as the years stretched was empowering to read. I love their love.

A.L. never shies away from the intensity and brutality of war and that was once again present here. I liked the Netherlands setting because it’s one I don’t know as much about and only added to the story. Sowards knows how to craft an amazingly intricate and beautiful book and it wrenches my heart every dang time.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction
  • Language: none
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: WW2 themes (starvation, mentions of concentration camps, work camps and more), loss of life, weapons violence, physical violence, loss of a baby, grief/depression depiction

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