Month: December 2017

The Lord Meets His Lady by Gina Conkle

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Tracy's Reviews1 Comment

The Lord Meets His Lady (Midnight Meetings, #3)The Lord Meets His Lady by Gina Conkle

Series: Midnight Meetings, #3

Release Date: December 5, 2017

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am torn about this review – I liked the idea of the book, but the execution didn’t work for me.

Genevieve Turner is a woman on the run, she has set out under an assumed name to take a position as a housekeeper. She desperately wants to start anew and hopes this position will be the first step in her new independent life.

Lord Marcus Bowles is a man with no direction, after causing one too many scandals, his brother, the Marquess Northampton, has sent Marcus to the country to sober up and lay low until North can find a suitable bride. Marcus agrees to go, but is counting the days until he can return to London and his aimless, pleasure seeking life.

These two meet when Gen’s carriage is broken down and Marcus mistakenly assumes they are being held up by a highwayman. Gen immediately recognizes Marcus from her former life at the Golden Goose and asks him not to reveal her true identity. Intrigued, Marcus agrees.

Days later he shows up at the house she is working in, turns out her employer is Sam, one of his best friends. Sam wants Marcus to work with him in a business venture and Marcus agrees, if Sam will let Gen come work for him. Sam explains the arrangement to Gen, who agrees to work for Marcus.

Gen and Marcus then proceed to set his house to rights and Marcus tries to lure Gen to his bed. Gen is no stranger to a man’s bed, but she wants a new life and sex is not part of their arrangement.

When Gen’s past comes calling, Marcus steps up and marries her to protect her. But Gen assumes it will be a sham marriage and doesn’t want to get too close to Marcus. By this time, Marcus knows he has deeper feelings for Gen and is content to have her as his wife. They become intimate, but Gen refuses to let there be anything more between them than a physical relationship.

The “Wolf” is not done with Gen yet and Marcus stands to lose everything to keep her safe. And Gen realizes that she loves Marcus and is willing to sacrifice her newfound independence to see him happy.

The story is well written albeit a bit wordy and the pace of the story is bogged down by the wordiness making it a slow read. I liked all the characters, including Wolf (the villain), there are some steamy love scenes, some sweet moments, some amusing moments and finally a HEA.

What I didn’t like was the incorrect use of formal address – this is the one thing that annoys me more than anything else in historical romance – I can overlook a lot, but not that. Marcus is the son of a Marquess, so he has an honorific title of Lord Marcus, when he marries Gen, she becomes Lady Marcus – but for this entire book Marcus is called Lord Bowles and after they are married she is being called Lady Bowles and that made me want to bang my head against the wall. So that, along with the slow pace of the story, made this a 3 star read for me.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*

Secrets In Death by J. D. Robb

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Mystery2 Comments

Secrets in Death (In Death, #45)Secrets in Death by J.D. Robb

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: In Death
Publication Date: 9/5/17

This is still my favorite series even after 45 books. After this many books, you’d think the series would begin to be stale – but it isn’t. Each new book is as exciting and interesting as the previous one. This one is more like a police procedural than most others have been. Eve and Roarke aren’t running at breakneck speed trying to catch a psychotic serial killer, terrorist, etc., they are following the clues step-by-step and it is great to have a slower pace and see how the two of them play off each other. It is so nice to see that Eve is settling into the ‘Marriage Thing’ as she calls it. Of course, Roarke, being the most romantic hero ever, makes it easy.

Larinda Mars (I think we met her at the beginning of the series – book #2 maybe) doesn’t have a single redeeming quality, but she doesn’t deserve to be murdered – especially right in front of Lieutenant Eve Dallas, NYPSD. Eve had finally agreed to have an after-work drink with Garnet DeWinter, a forensic anthropologist, at a trendy nightspot. As Eve enters Du Vin she notices Larinda sitting at a table with a male and the next time she sees Larinda she is staggering, bumping into people and – bleeding – a lot. She falls to the floor and dies almost instantly.

Larinda is a gossip show host on the same channel with Nadine Furst. However, her real talent is discovering people’s secrets and threatening them with exposure. Eve doesn’t like her and she likes her less and less as she learns more about her. Eve always stands for the dead and she’ll stand for Larinda whether she likes her or not.

I bought the Whispersync narration to go along with the written text because Susan Erickson does such an awesome job. It is worth every penny just to hear her say – as Roarke – “Darlin’ Eve” in that soft Irish accent. It just gives you shivers!

This is a great book – and it could be read as a stand-alone, but you will be missing so much. This is one series that I definitely recommend reading from the beginning just to get the growth of Eve and Roarke’s relationship, backgrounds and the friendships they form with the supporting characters.

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