Month: April 2017

When To Engage An Earl

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When to Engage an Earl (Spinster House #3)When to Engage an Earl by Sally MacKenzie

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author: Sally McKenzie
Series: Spinster House #3

Publication Date:  May 30, 2017
WOW!! What a bang-up ending to this series!! The Spinster House goes to a bachelor — you just have to love it!! Sorry — you’ll just have to read it to see what I mean!

I have to say that I loved all of the characters in the entire series, but Poppy is the absolute best character you could want in a book!! Poppy is a reddish-orange cat that is the very definition of independent AND everybody truly believes that she is magical. After you read this series, you’ll think so too!

If you read the first two books, you’ll know that Miss Jane Wilkinson had some behind-the-scenes involvement in getting the first two couples together. She did that because she wanted the Spinster House for herself. Jane was determined to never marry and to live independently of her brother. However, she didn’t really bargain for how lonesome she might be – even though she’d never admit that. She had an attraction to our hero from the first time they met, but was determined to fight it.

Alex, Earl of Evans is feeling pretty insecure about himself since he was jilted. He doesn’t trust himself to know if he is in love or even to evaluate how someone feels about him at all. However, he feels continually drawn to Jane and finds himself turning up at the Spinster House when he doesn’t really intend to go there.

Alex and Jane don’t have a smooth path to their HEA – mostly because of Jane’s fears. Once Alex realizes how he feels, he’s ready to go – but not Jane. Takes a while and a lot of hurt before she gets where she needs to be.

I absolutely LOVED the epilogue. I always think a book – especially a romance – needs an epilogue, but this one was really, really good. It followed up on the previous couples and ended it all with a really sweet loving finish. Way to go Sally MacKenzie!

“I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

A Counterfeit Heart – K. C. Bateman – 04/18/2017

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A Counterfeit Heart (Secrets & Spies #3)A Counterfeit Heart by K.C. Bateman

Barbara’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series:  Secrets & Spies #3

Release Date:  May 23, 2017

What a great read!!! It was so good that I couldn’t put it down and when it ended I was really, really sad. One of the hallmarks of books by this author seems to be that she handles a mystery and tense situation with humor and great characters. This is the third – and I hope not the last – book in the Secrets and Spies series. I would really like to see Kit get his own book although he’s not been featured much so far.

What did I love:
—–All of the main characters, but particularly the H/h. Both of them are strong, smart, brave and so very drawn to each other. There are reasons they should and do mistrust each other so the author handles their inner turmoil brilliantly. Neither is manipulative and they tell each other the truth – it is just that past history and the situation makes each doubt the other.
—–The book is filled with wonderfully witty banter (I even laughed out loud a couple of times), sexual tension beyond belief, exceptionally good secondary characters, danger – you name it — it has everything that makes a book great!
—–I LOVE that we get to visit with Raven and Heloise from book two. They are as wicked as they were in their own book. Raven takes great delight in the fact that Richard has met his match and I love the way he needles him all through the book.

What didn’t I love:
—–Hard to say — I loved it all. However, I can say that I would have appreciated seeing more of Kit. That one little scene just absolutely wasn’t enough. I’m sure it is all build up to when he gets his own book, but — well — it would have been nice to have had a little dialogue to kind of see where he is now in his recovery. Maybe an epilogue-epilogue to catch up with what happened with Anton once he got to America. I liked him and wanted to see good things happen for him or maybe even get his own book too!

“I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

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