Month: January 2023

A Love By Design by Elizabeth Everett – Blog Blitz

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Blog Tour, Part of a Series, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Love by Design (The Secret Scientists of London, #3)Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: The Secret Scientists of London #3
Publication Date: 1/17/23
Period: Victorian London
Number of Pages: 336

I have glanced down the list of reviews and ratings for this book and quickly learned I am in the minority. So, feel free to quit reading at this point if you like. I met and liked Earl Grantham in earlier books and was looking forward to an exciting, romantic, whiz-bang story for him. I was also looking for an exciting, no-holds-barred, wrap-up for the series. I don’t feel I got any of that, so I am sad about that. Don’t get me wrong – I think George is about as romantic as they get, I just don’t think his story was.

Margaret, Violet, and George were childhood friends – and Margaret and George were childhood sweethearts. Margaret and George had planned to run away together and marry so she could accompany him to Canada as a soldier’s wife – except – he ended it on the morning they were to leave. Why? Since it would be a bit of a spoiler I won’t tell you, so you’ll just have to read the book to learn why. Since Margaret couldn’t marry George, she left for France to become an apprentice engineer and there she married the son of her mentor.

This book begins several years later when Margaret is back in London as a widow and George has inherited an earldom. George still loves Margaret – he never stopped loving her, but Margaret, on the other hand, doesn’t think she wants anything to do with George. She is adamant – absolutely nothing and no one will get in the way of her starting her engineering firm and being the first female engineer in England. She is ruthless in pursuit of that goal – and even accepts a contract that is backed by the man who has openly tried to harm her fellow scientists. She doesn’t even tell them what she is doing. That smacks of dishonesty to me.

Poor tongue-tied, fumble-footed George is bent on wooing Margaret. He is so funny, entertaining, caring, and loving. You couldn’t ask for a lovelier hero – he is perfectly content to be the rug on which she wipes her feet. Finally, after a bit of danger, Margaret figures out where she needs to be.

I found the story to be a bit draggy and flat when it could have been so exciting. We spent page after page learning about engineering when we could have been learning about the plot to ruin Margaret and get rich. We could have seen more machinations from Victor Armitage and his Guardians of Domesticity. But we didn’t get any of that and I found myself skimming page after page.

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

View all my reviews

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

On By TracyIn America's Gilded Age (1870-1900), Part of a Series, Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Duke Gets Even (The Fifth Avenue Rebels, #4)The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Fifth Avenue Rebels, #4

Release Date: January 24, 2023

A chance encounter during a midnight swim leads to a heated kiss and the promise of a passion unlike anything either has ever experienced, but the timing is wrong and with the morning comes revelations that should kill any attraction. Clearly, when the man of your dreams is engaged to your best friend, he is not for you – or is he?

Andrew Talbot, the Duke of Lockwood is back in New York and still hoping to find a rich bride to save his bankrupt estate, but after a broken engagement and losing two more potential brides, he isn’t optimistic, not to mention he is still reeling from the kiss he shared with the completely unacceptable Miss Eleanor “Nellie” Young, whose reputation for debauchery would make most rakes blush, but Fate keeps throwing them in each other’s paths. And shockingly, Andrew doesn’t mind, in fact, soon he is craving her and despite everything, he wants only her and money has nothing to do with it, so he sets out to prove it and hopefully win her heart and her hand. But even though Fate threw them together, that doesn’t mean winning her will be easy.

Eleanor “Nellie” Young is the only child of mega-rich railroad magnate, Corneilus Young and gleefully snubs her nose at society, she is unapologetic about her affairs, her opinions, and her mother’s humble Irish roots. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her and that includes one snooty English Duke. But Nellie soon learns that Andrew isn’t snooty at all, he is actually quite perfect, handsome, and charming. But she knows that nothing will come of it, he needs an heiress with a spotless reputation, and that is most certainly not her – Heiress? Yes. Spotless reputation? Absolutely not! So even after she realizes she is falling in love with him, she still refuses to consider anything longer than an affair, she cares for him too much to have him suffer because of her reputation and she is sure he will come to regret her and she will be left brokenhearted. So when he presses her for more, she pushes him away and makes it clear, HEA is not for them and that is the end of it. Or is it?

I LOVED this book so much – it is by far the best of the series and definitely has earned a place on my keeper shelf! Andrew and Eleanor are so real and so relatable, that it is hard at times to remember that they are fictional characters. They both have flaws and fears, but they seem to bring out the best in each other, when one is down, the other is there to lift them up, and white-hot passion is always simmering between them, which makes Nellie’s constant rejection frustrating at times, I actually wanted to reach into my kindle, shake her and say, don’t let him go! And Andrew, who knew?!? Still waters really do run deep! This book was just phenomenal, it has a lot of emotion, likable characters, great secondary characters, cameos from previous characters, smoking HOT love scenes (Thank You, Ms. Shupe, I was beginning to think that no one wrote these anymore!), loss, secrets, arrests, witty banter, bar fights, heartache and a truly wonderful ending complete with a HEA and an epilogue. OMG, I never wanted this book to end – I hope Andrew and Nellie pop up in other books and readers get a deeper look into their HEA because it was hard to let them go. This is the fourth book and final book in the series, but it could easily be read as a stand-alone title. I can’t recommend this title highly enough if you are a fan of the Gilded Age, or like historicals that deliver a message along with a romance (without being preachy), or even if you just like steamy historical romances with feisty heroines and sexy dukes – do not miss this book!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*