SMP Holiday Blitz

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Christmas in Kilts_Cover

Christmas in Kilts by Terri Brisbain, Lecia Cornwall, Brownwen Evans, Lavinia Kent, May McGoldrick

Jacket Summary:
Tis the season to fall in love! These five bestselling authors bring you great tiding of highlanders and romances this holiday season!

A HIGHLANDER’S HOPE by Terri Brisbin
A village harlot who would never dream she could have a different life meets a Highlander who visits for the holidays and brings with him an offer and hope.

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS WAGER by Lecia Cornwall
When a snowstorm forces a charming lass hiding a broken heart to take shelter in a castle with three fine Highland lairds just days before Christmas, there’s a game afoot—who will be the first to win a kiss and maybe her heart.

A SCOT FOR CHRISTMAS by Bronwen Evans
She’s ready to embrace her life and future as a spinster, he’s trying to have one last hurrah before he gives into his family’s wishes and proposes marriage to his neighbor, but fate has other ideas when the lady and the Scot meet at a holiday house party in the wilds of Scotland.

LEFTOVER MISTLETOE by Lavinia Kent
What happens when a highlander finds himself stranded, maybe kidnapped, with an English lady around Christmas… maybe the mistletoe will help answer that question.

SWEET HOME HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS by May McGoldrick
An encounter between an English officer and a desperate aunt trying to keep custody of her young niece leads to a little magic during the holidays.

Buy Link:
http://smpromance.com/historical/christmas-in-kilts/

With This Christmas Ring_Cover

With this Christmas Ring by Manda Collins

Jacket Summary:
A wallflower determined to fulfill a dying promise, the rogue she jilted years ago, and an orphaned baby are all brought together amidst the magic of Christmas in this new novella from Manda Collins.

Miss Merry Parks makes a deathbed promise to a schoolfriend that her infant daughter will be taken to her absent father. There’s only one problem—to find the baby’s father, she’ll have to consult his cousin, Viscount Wrotham, the man she jilted five years ago. The man she couldn’t forget.

Alex Ponsonby, Viscount Wrotham, is stunned to find Merry Parks—looking more lovely than ever–on his doorstep with an infant in her arms. His shock soon turns to dismay when he learns his own cousin William is the man who abandoned his wife and child. As head of the family he’s duty bound to see right is done. But he can’t let this opportunity pass. He’ll take Merry and the baby to his cousin, but he’ll woo her back in the process.

Merry agrees to travel with Alex and the baby to Wrotham Castle, where the entire Ponsonby family has gathered for Christmas, but her plans to see the baby settled then leave are ruined by a snowstorm. After five years apart, Alex and Merry will spend the week getting reacquainted. Perhaps it’s the spirit of the holiday, or the magic of the season, but there could be something else in the air this Yuletide…A Christmas Reunion.

Author Bio:
Manda Collins is the author of the Studies in Scandal series, The Lords of Anarchy series, The Ugly Duckling series and the Wicked Widows series as well as several other Regency-set romances. She spent her teen years wishing she’d been born a couple of centuries earlier, preferably in the English countryside. Time travel being what it is, she resigned herself to life with electricity and indoor plumbing, and read lots of books. When she’s not writing, she’s helping other people use books, as an academic librarian.

Buy Link: http://smpromance.com/historical/with-this-christmas-ring/

What The Earl Needs Now by Michelle Willingham

What the Earl Needs NowWhat the Earl Needs Now by Michelle Willingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Earls Next Door #2
Publication Date: 10/24/17

What a truly engrossing read! The prose is excellently written, the pacing is just right, and the HEA is hard won and well deserved! I loved my introduction to Michelle Willingham’s work and definitely look forward to reading more from her. This was a real can’t-put-it-down book and I definitely have to go back and read the first book in the series now!

Lily Thornton has loved Matthew Larkspur, Earl of Arnsbury, for a long time. When her father was trying to marry her off and Matthew was getting ready to leave for India, she and Matthew said their vows in front of a priest – but there was no license – and they both knew it. But they had a one night honeymoon. Lily lived on that one night for the two years it took Matthew to return – a scarred and broken man. He had been captured in India and tortured for over a year – horrible torture that I won’t describe. It broke him physically and mentally. In today’s world, we would say that he has PTSD. He loses himself in remembrances of the torture and can hurt someone.

Lily has visited Matthew almost daily since his return, but he’s broken and he doesn’t want her to cling to a broken man – so he tells her he doesn’t remember her. Oh – but he does. She doesn’t give up and keeps visiting. She seems to have a calming effect on him and he is drawn toward her light. Until something happens one day and he hurts her.

Matthew is eaten up with remorse and now Lily is afraid of him. She still loves him, but she keeps her distance from him. That is what really draws him back into the world – that and getting rid of all of the medications he’s been taking. He needs a clear head if he is going to deal with his demons and win Lily back.

Matthew is a sly devil and knows how to woo this particular lady. Oh! Yes, he does. Not with flowers, candy or jewelry – but with veterinary books and a correspondence course. Can you believe?

There are also some pretty nasty villains in this book – Matthew wasn’t captured by accident and the perpetrators are too close to home for comfort.

A couple of reviewers have commented on the speed with which Matthew handled his PTSD and criticized Lily for giving up on him. I beg to differ with them. If you look at the amount of time the story says elapsed, it wasn’t exactly quick. Yes – it happened within a few chapters of the book, but the elapsed time covered in those chapters isn’t terribly short. Then, regarding Lily – he really frightened her and hurt her – I would think anyone would have to think twice about being in his company given those circumstances.

This was a truly excellent read!

“I requested and received this e-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.”