Month: May 2019

One Night of Passion by Erica Ridley

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Novella, Regency Era (1811-1820), Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

One Night of Passion (Wicked Dukes Club #3)One Night of Passion by Erica Ridley

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Wicked Dukes Club, #3

Release Date: May 14, 2019

Thaddeus Middleton has decided that he is ready to take a wife, so like any respectable gentleman of means, he begins his search at Almack’s. Thad is a romantic at heart and is sure that he will recognize the love of his life at first sight – there will be a sign, a spark, a bolt of lightning – something to let him know that he has found “The One”. But this night what he finds is Miss Priscilla Weatherby – most definitely not “The One”, but he asks her to dance is shocked when she turns him down.

Priscilla has a plan and it does not include marriage – her father and grandfather are adventurers and she longs to join them on their journeys, she hasn’t seen her father in years, but when her mother died he told her that he set up a trust for her – ten thousand pounds will be hers on her 25th birthday if she has not married. But there are conditions, she must not avoid the marriage mart, attend 3 events week, no scandal, she can’t ruin herself and she can tell no one of the trust. Priscilla knows exactly what she will do with the money – join her father in Africa – so she has followed the terms to the letter and perfected the art of attending without participating! But if she was looking for a husband, Thad would be exactly what she would want. He is intelligent, kind and handsome. When the meet again in the park and they chat, she really likes him but refuses to risk her heart and again shuts him down.

Thad wonders if insisting on a love match is just prolonging his loneliness, he misses his cousin Diana and when she comes to visit him, he wonders if he has missed “The One” – he does mention Priscilla to Diana and she is surprised that she was rude to Thad – he says it doesn’t matter, because she is not “The One” – Diana askes how he knows that and he says there was no sign. Diana tells him to try to get to know her before he decides that she is not “The One”, he receives similar advice from his friends at the Wicked Duke. And sets out to befriend Priscilla. When he arrives at her house, the weather clears and he sees a rainbow. He thinks he might have been wrong and decides that he needs to get to know her.

Priscilla is surprised to see Thad, she thought she made it clear that she was not interested, but as she gets to know him, her desires become blurred. And when her father returns unexpectantly and offers to take her with him on his travels, she will have to decide if she should go or if loving Thad is the real adventure.

This was a very sweet story, more emotional than I expected, but a true delight to read. The characters are engaging, the love scenes mild and the ending is wonderful. This is the third book in the Wicked Dukes Club series, but it can easily be read as a stand alone title. I truly enjoyed this story and would be happy to recommend it!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an e-ARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

Amber Affairs by Patricia Rice

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, MysteryLeave a comment

Amber Affairs (Crystal Magic Book 6)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Crystal Magic #6
Publication Date: 5/14/19
Number of Pages: 358

What an enticingly lovely second-chance romance! This exhilarating addition to the Crystal Magic series has it all – romance, murder, mayhem, angry ghosts, possessions, and perverted Hollywood moguls. What more could you ask for in the small town of Hillvale, California? I am thinking this might be my favorite book in the series – but, I think I say that with each new release. What can I say – I love the series.

As we’ve read each new addition to the series, we’ve seen Amber. She was always there, but sort of in the background and to me, she seemed to be the most ineffectual of the Hillvale Lucy’s. As if she didn’t have a lot to contribute at all. Well, not anymore. Amber Abercrombie has come into her own – and what a formidable person she turns out to be!

Amber keeps many, many secrets and she is terrified that someone from the outside will discover her real identity and she’ll be exposed. She has spent years putting herself back together from her traumatic childhood and she is still not in a good place mentally to deal with the exposure. She’s found a measure of peace in Hillvale – she’s eating better, she’s sleeping better, she’s come to terms with her large body (well, sort of). Yes, she’s poor as a church mouse, but she’s calm.

Well, she’s calm until Josh Gabriel strolls into town. Josh was her co-star in a long-running adolescent TV series (Jack and Ginger) – and the love of her life. Here he is – on the eve of his wedding – and he’s just walked into her shop. Maybe he won’t recognize her. But he does. He’s shocked to find her here because he has spent years and years and all the money he could muster to find her. She had just run off – leaving him no word, no explanation, nothing – and now by gosh – he’d have one – because she was the love of his life too.

Josh invites Amber to the lodge to have dinner with him and his bride-to-be (Willa), but Willa had to go back to Hollywood on urgent business. Amber has dinner with Josh and they swim in the pool together and begin to rekindle their friendship. The next morning, Willa is found murdered – near Hillvale – and all eyes begin to turn to Josh and Amber.

If seeing Josh and a murder isn’t stressful enough, Amber gets a call from her nephew Zeke who is living with his grandmother since his mother died. This is the same woman who abused and let others abuse Amber – and now, she’s putting Zeke in the same situation. Zeke runs away and takes a bus as close as he can to Hillvale and calls Amber, who doesn’t drive, to come to get him. She panics but finds a way to get him to Hillvale, now she has to spend resources she doesn’t have to get custody away from her treacherous mother.

Add another murder, an angry spirit possessing the town’s medium, and Hillvale is in an uproar. Josh is the main murder suspect with the sheriff, but Amber and her friends know he isn’t guilty – they just have to prove it by catching the real murderer(s).

This is a wonderful, fast-paced, exciting read with two lead characters who deserve their HEA more than any I’ve read in a very long time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.