Month: May 2020

A Duke Will Never Do by Darcy Burke

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

A Duke Will Never Do (The Spitfire Society #3)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Spitfire Society #3
Publication Date: 5/19/20
Number of Pages: 280

I have wanted to see Anthony’s story since we first met him in The Duke of Distraction from the Untouchables series. He just begged to have a warm, loving, and very caring lady to heal his heart and soul, and he certainly found her in Jane. The story is interesting and moves at a steady pace, but if you are a stickler for period correctness, the entire Spitfire premise is very unlikely. Still, I have enjoyed the stories and am looking forward to future stories (in another series) with several of the characters we meet in this book.

Anthony Colton became a Viscount about a year before – and he’s been inside a bottle since then. His parents were murdered by a highwayman, and it is his fault. He’s to blame for their deaths and therefore he is a worthless sod who doesn’t deserve to ever forget it. He wallows in the guilt and the bottle and sees no reason to crawl out of either. Being sober means he’d have to feel – and he certainly doesn’t want that. Being drunk day-after-day and in one brawl after another has become his normal existence. So, how did he end up having his wounds tended by an angel?

Jane Pemberton just didn’t take during her seasons and her parents blamed her for it. She was never nice enough or demure enough or … well, just never enough. Her parents harangued her about it all the time and were trying to force her to marry a neighbor she just couldn’t abide. So, she declared herself a spinster and moved to the home of her friend Phoebe, who had just recently married (A Duke Is Never Enough), and moved to her husband’s home. Jane sometimes rethinks her decision, but always decides she is ‘alone but not lonely’. Yet, sometimes she is lonely and she feels that way more and more since her friends have married and are deliriously happy. Then, as she is leaving he house one morning, she stumbles upon this bloody pulp of a human crumpled in her doorway. He’s almost unrecognizable and nothing will keep her from nursing him back to health.

Jane and Anthony are perfect for each other. Jane soothes the savage beast in Anthony and helps him to realize that there is still hope in the world and Anthony gives Jane the courage to confront her family issues. When a crisis occurs and Jane thinks Anthony has abandoned her, she summons the courage to confront her issues head-on – only to learn Anthony is there lending her strength. It was a lovely, lovely romance and I truly came to like and admire both Anthony and Jane.

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

Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London

On By TracyIn Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Royal Kiss and Tell (A Royal Wedding, #2)A Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London

Tracy’s rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: A Royal Wedding, #2

Release Date: May 19, 2020

Caroline Hawkes and Prince Leopold met long before her dearest friend and his brother wed, but clearly the introduction meant more to Caroline than it did to Leo. Caroline is used to being admired and pursued, so she can’t seem to accept that Leo not only doesn’t remember her, but isn’t interested and finds her to be annoying, conceited and ill mannered.

A royal prince in Alucia, Leo is the younger son and has never had any real responsibility, he is well liked, well received and welcome everywhere. But lately he has been discontented and bored, he enjoys his life in England, but wants more. While attending his brother’s wedding, his father tells him that he has arranged a political marriage for Leo and that he can return to England to button up his affairs and then return to Alucia by summer’s end to announce his betrothal. Leo is not happy with this turn of events, but will do his duty. He is preparing to return to England when he is approached by a man and told of a serious and concerning situation involving several young women from Wesloria (the neighboring country to Alucia) who have gone missing. The man askes Leo to look into it because he thinks the men involved are members of the upper echelons of society.

Caroline is miffed that Leo doesn’t remember her, it is unacceptable and she goes out of her way to make him acknowledge her. But it isn’t until they return to England that things between them begin to heat up. Leo is having a hard time with his “mission” thanks to gossip written about him in the Honeycutt Gazette – gossip supplied by Caroline. But even as his reputation is tanking, Leo doesn’t give up trying to save the women and bring the men responsible to justice. As Leo continues his investigation, he begins to rely on Caroline for help and they both begin to develop deeper feelings, but theirs is a love that can never be, or can it?

I have to admit, I didn’t like this book as much as the first one, it is a decent read, but I just never really felt the connection between Leo and Caroline. The book itself is well written and the “mystery” portion is well done and paced nicely, but unfortunately, the romance definitely took a backseat and didn’t develop at the same pace. The book does have a bit of witty dialogue, a hero who is misunderstood and underestimated, a very conceited, yet likeable heroine, warmish love scenes, cameos from previous characters, a decent mystery concerning slave trade and some surprising twists and turns that make an impossible HEA, possible. The incorrect title use that annoyed me in the first book is sadly still running rampage in this book and the romance leaves much to be desired – so for me, this was an “OK” read, nothing to get excited about, but still entertaining. This is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a stand-alone title with no problem at all.

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