Month: January 2021

Blog Tour – The Secrets of Colchester Hall By Sophie Barnes

On By BarbaraIn Other2 Comments

The Secrets of Colchester Hall

by Sophie Barnes
Publication Date: January 12, 2021
Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple Books | Google Play

She’s the woman he wants… But will his love for her be enough to make her stay?

As one of six possible candidates vying for Viscount Sterling’s hand, Lady Angelica has been invited to stay at his grand manor for a week-long house party. But an unpleasant feeling lurks within Colchester Hall. It’s almost as if someone’s watching Angelica just beyond the edge of her vision. And while she tries to explain the chill creeping up behind her as merely a draft, she can’t shake the feeling that something disturbing might be at play.

When Sterling decides she’s the woman he wants, can Angelica accept her new home and the sinister secrets she fears it might hold, or will she give up on true love because of what could be nothing more than her own imagination?

A Gothic inspired Regency Romance to get your heart racing.

Barbara’s Review

Chills, shivers, and shakes will pass down your spine as you travel the dark hallways and rooms of gloomy Colchester Hall. Something sinister is there – something that is just – wrong. When you have a brooding Viscount along with six debutantes and their chaperones all contained within those halls there is a mighty chance of a haunting.

Randolph Benedict Scott Trevarian, Viscount Sterling, has been a widower for two years and has decided it is time to remarry and begat an heir. In this marriage, he’ll have a wife he can be sure of – one who won’t test his heart. He sent out six very blunt invitations to a ‘house party’ that included things like … “I am in need of a wife and your daughter could be a suitable candidate for the position.” From those six young ladies, he’d choose the most compatible for a wife. He certainly didn’t foresee the bluntly-spoken, very honest young woman who captured his attention from the first day.

Angelica Florence Northbridge is far from enthused about traveling to Colchester Hall in response to the invitation. In Angelica’s opinion, the blunt invitation wasn’t deserving of a response much less an actual visit. However, her mother, Rose, insisted they go. Angelica felt two things almost as soon as she entered Colchester Hall – she felt an immediate attraction to Viscount Sterling and she felt sinister fingers of coldness at her neck, back, and ankles. Was the Hall really that drafty?

As Angelica and Randolph are more and more drawn to each other, the forbidding coldness always seems to be at her back – it is everywhere she goes – and she has begun to have strange, eerie dreams. Unexplainable dreams – as if she is someone else in the dream. As she realizes what those dreams mean, it will turn her world upside down – along with the relationship she’s begun to forge with the Viscount.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-plotted, well-written, well-paced, and well-delivered tale. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Angelica and Randolph because they were truly lovely people and their romance was totally believable. They were perfect for each other. This book isn’t listed as part of a series, but I truly like to see Miss Lucinda Harlow (Lucy) featured in a book. I really liked her and would love to see her find her HEA with her Mr. Elliott Thompson.

About the Author

Born in Denmark, USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish, and Romanian with varying degrees of fluency. But, most impressive of all, she’s been married to the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses.

When she’s not busy dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.

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A Waltz with the Outspoken Governess by Catherine Tinley – Blog Tour

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

A Waltz with the Outspoken Governess

Cover

A Waltz with the Outspoken Governess

A quiet governess…
An unruly heart
Sir Nicholas Denny is desperate to find a governess to care for his boisterous nieces and nephews. Demure vicar’s daughter Mary Smith seems ideal—at first. All too soon Nicholas discovers a different side to her… She’s a beautiful, vivacious woman, even if she infuriates him with her strong opinions! When he waltzes with Mary at a party he knows he’s in trouble—the spark between them is so tempting, but she challenges everything he thought he wanted in a wife!

Purchase Links: 
getbook.at/WaltzGoverness
getbook.at/WaltzGovernessEbook

The Earl's Runaway Governess Tinley 6 dog
Author Bio

Catherine Tinley is an award winning author who writes witty, heartwarming, Regency love stories for Harlequin Mills & Boon. She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech & language therapy, NHS management, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now manages a maternity hospital. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, and dog and can be reached at http://www.catherinetinley.com, as well as http://www.facebook.com/CatherineTinleyWriter and @CatherineTinley on twitter.

Social Media Links:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

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Tracy’s Review

A Waltz with the Outspoken GovernessA Waltz with the Outspoken Governess by Catherine Tinley

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Release Date: January 1, 2021

After years of being raised solely by her studious father, Vicar Smith, and being encouraged to speak her mind, he decides that Mary needs a more formal ladies’ education and sends her off to the Plumpton Academy for Young Ladies. Mary is miserable there but agrees to stay for a year to make her father happy. But she has only been there for 3 months when she gets the terrible news that her father has been arrested for treason! She is promptly turned out of school and needs to find a way to get to Norfolk where her father is being held. In a rare show of kindness, the headmistress recommends Mary to Mrs. Gray’s employment agency and as luck would have it, Mrs. Gray has a temporary governess position available in Norfolk, very close to the Brightwell prison where her father is being held. She offers Mary the position but warns her to remember that her behavior reflects on the agency and that she must keep her opinions to herself.

Sir Nicholas Denny is preparing for an invasion, his sister is coming to Stiffkey Hall for a long visit and is bringing her five unruly children. Nicholas loves his family, but as a bachelor, he is unused to the noise children generate and as a scholar, he desires peace and quiet, so in an effort to keep things as normal as possible, he instructs his secretary to hire additional help, including a governess. He is not prepared for his reaction to Mary, he is immediately attracted to her, but is a bit disappointed that she is so demure and reserved.

For her part, Mary struggles to control herself and to conform to her new lower station in life. She doesn’t tell anyone about her father, but wonders if she can trust Sir Nicholas with the truth. Slowly Nicholas is able to bring the real Mary out of hiding, but this just ends up causing him more grief when she speaks her mind about him and makes him examine his life and what possible place she could have in it. After Nicholas has a rather nasty confrontation with his sister’s governess, everything goes wrong for Mary and she loses her position and leaves. Nicholas is beside himself when he learns she is gone –can he find her and tell her his true feelings or is it too late for him?

This was an interesting story; it is definitely not your run-of-the-mill historical romance and Mary is certainly not your average heroine. While the writing was good, the story did drag a bit in the middle and the ending was a bit of a mad dash to the finish. Overall, it was a good read, different and out of the ordinary. I don’t know if I would call Mary “outspoken” as much as I would say she is quick to judge and condemn and doesn’t always think before she speaks, she is, however, usually sorry for her words and is not above asking for forgiveness. The romance in the story is very subdued and the love scenes are nothing more than a couple of kisses. So, if you are looking for something with no steam that is a bit off of the norm – this book is for you!

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