Month: April 2020

Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's Reviews1 Comment

Heiress for Hire (A Duke's Heiress, #1)Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter

Tracy’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: A Duke’s Heiress, #1

Release Date: April 28, 2020

Chase Radnor’s evening is not going as planned. His plan was to learn more about Minerva Hepplewhite aka Margaret Finley, it was NOT to be bashed on the head and tied up. He tells Minerva that he is the nephew of the late Duke of Hollinburgh and that Minerva/Margaret was left a rather large bequest by the duke. Ten thousand pounds and a partnership in an investment! Minerva is stunned, she has never met the duke and though this inheritance is a blessing, giving her the money she needs to open her own inquiry business, but it could also be a curse, especially since Chase knows who she is. What else does he know? She decides her first order of business will be to find out

Chase has his own inquiry business and has been tasked with finding the three mystery women his uncle left his personal fortune to – completely cutting out his family. He is also certain that the duke didn’t accidently fall off the roof of his county seat and has more than one person – including the Home Secretary, Robert Peel! He is pretty sure his uncle was murdered – but by who. None of the family, save himself knew his uncle changed his will and cut out the family – so Minerva becomes his prime suspect.

Their investigations cross and they get to know one another, Chase is no longer certain that Minerva is his uncle’s killer, but he isn’t quite ready to cut ties with her. Minerva is equally intrigued by Chase, which comes as a shock, she was sure that she would never be interested in a man after the horrors she lived through with her late husband, but intrigued she is, which could be dangerous for her in more ways than one.

I thought this was a good book, a little slow to take off, but well written and interesting. The mysteries in the book are well done and while I am not sure how I feel about the outcome of his uncle’s death, I think the way that was handled perfectly complements the mystery of Minerva’s husband’s death. Chase and Minerva are both complexed characters, they are both shaped by their pasts, both clever and observant and clearly perfect for each other. In addition to the mysteries, the book has a large cast of secondary characters, a slow burn romance, steamish love scenes and a HEA that is nicely executed. This is the first book in the series and it nicely sets up the series without taking the readers focus from Chase and Minerva. I am happy to recommend the book and look forward to the next book!

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

Blog Tour – To Win A Wicked Lord by Sofie Darling

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Blog Tour, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

To Win a Wicked Lord Tour Banner

 

About the Book:

Lord Percival Bretagne is used to playing games. He survived being a spy for a decade using his wits alone. But that was just life and death, now he’s playing for the most important prize of all—love.

He’ll Stop at Nothing……

Ten years after his family gave him up for dead, British spy Lord Percival Bretagne is back home, but his mission is far from over. Playing the aristocrat in London gambling dens and at country house parties is just a cover for Percy’s real quest. He’s hunting the man who stole everything from him—his family, his marriage, even his identity. And this time nothing, and no one, will stand in his way.

She’ll Risk it All……

But one night with Isabel Galante changes everything. She’s willing to gamble a woman’s most intimate prize in order to save her imprisoned father, but she didn’t expect a devilishly handsome opponent with a dangerously attractive wicked streak. Isabel would do anything for her family, including betraying Percy, but she has no idea that she’s stumbled into the middle of a decade-long quest for revenge.

Who Will Win in the Game Called Love?

Percy has been betrayed before, and now the man who destroyed his life is using Isabel to strike again. With the fate of the government and his new life in the balance, he’ll have to keep Isabel seductively, scandalously close. They begin a passionate game of truth and lies, deception and dalliance, uncovering the heart of who they really are and realizing that winning might mean losing what matters the most—each other.

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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Giveaway:

  • $15 Amazon Gift Card!

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Barbara’s Review 4 of 5 Stars:

I have been waiting and waiting for this book because I wanted to see Percy’s story and I wanted/hoped to see the villain finally get his due – and I got both. Well, I would have preferred a more dire outcome for the villain, but he did get more than a slap on the wrist. The story is well-written and I really liked the characters. We met Lord Percival Bretagne in the first book of the series, Three Lessons in Seduction, and got to know more about him in the second book, Tempted by the Viscount. We learned that in his early years, he was very much a man of his time – he wanted a society type marriage where there were no emotional attachments and he could basically keep living his life as he had before marriage. Yet, we also learned what happened to him on the continent. We also met and got to know the villain of the series in those books as well – and the fact that he never, ever, got any punishment for the things he did really annoyed me. Percy is now back in London and out of the spy business – and he’s bent on revenge against the man who took his family and his marriage from him. The man is sly, smart, manipulative and very, very well connected. So, how will Percy stop him? He’ll hit him where it hurts – in his purse. At least that is the plan until he learns that the villain is still active in more than just making money. What he is up to now will subvert and maybe even bring down the government of England. Isabel Galante is one in a long line of pawns who have been blackmailed and used by Lord Bertrand Montfort in his pursuit of power and influence. Isabel isn’t even the first in her family to be used by him. She despises him, but she also lives in mortal fear of him and what he can and will do to her family. So, when he orders her into the gaming hell/brothel, Number 9, to seduce a peer, she goes – she has no other choice. Then things go terribly wrong… She targets the wrong man … What will Montfort do to her and her family now? Percy grabs Isabel and escapes the brothel with her and a very young prostitute. He needs a place to keep her safe long enough that he can question her and find out all she knows about Montfort – and he’s sure she works for him and knows plenty. Circumstances throw Percy and Isabel together and they find themselves very attracted to each other. Yet, neither can fully trust the other – there is just too much at stake. Can they find it within themselves to trust and work together to defeat Montfort? While this book is part of a series, and we learned Percy’s backstory in earlier books, it can easily be read and enjoyed as a standalone. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Meet the Author:

Sofie Darling is an award-winning author of historical romance. Her debut novel, THREE LESSONS IN SEDUCTION, won the Writers’ League of Texas’ Manuscript Contest in the Romance Category in 2016. She spent much of her twenties raising two boys and reading every book she could get her hands on. Once she realized she simply had to write the books she loved, she finished her English degree and embarked on her writing career. Mr. Darling and the boys gave her their wholehearted blessing. When she’s not writing heroes who make her swoon, she runs a marathon in a different state every year, visits crumbling medieval castles whenever she gets a chance, and enjoys a slightly codependent relationship with her beagle, Bosco.