Month: November 2024

Tempted by a Rake by Jane Charles

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Series Crossover, Standalone Title, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Tempted by a RakeTempted by a Rake by Jane Charles

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Wicked Widows League (with ties other series by this author)

Release Date: November 5, 2024

As her family prepares to retire to their country estate for Christmas, Lavinia Stewart, the widowed Marchioness of Teviot is feeling out of sorts and decides to spend Christmas alone at a cottage she visited as a child to try and figure out what is bothering her. Upon the death of her husband, she returned to her family, acting as chaperon to her younger sisters and not only hostess to her brother the Duke of Claybrook, but his closest confidante and advisor. She is not sure what she wants to do with the rest of her life, but she knows she will never again marry for duty and despite her sister’s suggestion of finding a lover, she isn’t sure that is right for her either. But when she arrives at the cottage and discovers her neighbor is none other than Mr. Demetrius Valentine, her brother’s solicitor and a man that Lavinia greatly admires, too bad he is a rake. But then again, who better to help her discover what she was missing in the marriage bed?

Demetrius Valentine has just unexpectedly inherited a cottage as well as a dog and cat from one of his first clients. Shocked at the gift, he decides to spend Christmas there and think about his next move. He is shocked and delighted to learn that Lady Teviot is also spending the holiday sans family. He has long admired her intelligence and beauty. He would love to be her lover, but while he might not be the rake she believes him to be, he does have secrets that could destroy his family if the truth gets out. Yet how could he live with himself if he started an affair without telling her the truth? And how will he guard his heart for the eventual end of the affair?

This was a sweet friends-to-lovers / class difference romance with very likable characters in a Christmas setting. I enjoyed the story, but it was not as fast-paced as most of Ms. Charles’ books and felt a bit repetitive as each character rehashed the reasons, they could never really be together. Overall, it was a nice read with wonderful characters, secrets, adorable pets, steamyish love scenes and a lovely HEA complete with an epilogue. This novel is connected to more than one series but could easily be read as a standalone title.

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

Review: All’s Fair In Love and Treachery by Celeste Connally

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

All's Fair in Love and Treachery (Lady Petra Inquires, #2)

Barbara’s rating: 3.5
Series: Lady Petra Inquiries #2
Publication Date: 11/12/24
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 320

At the conclusion of the first book in the series, I was very iffy about whether I wanted to read any more books in this series. I couldn’t come to love Petra and the story was much too modern for my taste. Not to mention that Petra was presented as very astute – but she did so very many TSTL things that I just couldn’t really get into it. Fast forward to this book and the author has made Petra more likable and she only did a couple of TSTL things. The story is still very ‘contemporary’ in feel, but it was a bit more tolerable this time. So, what am I saying? I’m saying I liked this book better than the first one and will probably try the third to see if the trend continues.

In this story, we have three mysteries to solve. The first is the death of Petra’s fiancé, Emerson, three years ago. She thought it was an accident, but it turns out it was murder and she is convinced that Duncan Shawcross is the murderer. Sadly, she has come to love Duncan and that breaks her heart. The second mystery is the murder of the Matron of the Asylum for Female Orphans. Who could have done that – and what happened to the inheritances of some of the young women at the school? The third mystery is one Duncan is tasked with solving. He is to infiltrate, identify, and bring to justice the members of the group known as the Bellowers who are agitating for the violent overthrow of the monarchy. OMGoodness – What a busy few days for our cast of characters.

Obviously, all of these cases are related and Duncan and Petra will have to work together to get the maximum results. Although Duncan continually withholds information from Petra, she ends up getting the same information from different sources until he finally realizes he should just give it up and share. The mysteries are good, and the solutions are logical, but you have to work through the characters to get there.

I enjoyed seeing Petra again and I was pleased to find that I liked her better. It was nice to see that Duncan and his brother had grown closer and it was nice to see the high level of involvement Petra’s friends Caroline, Annie, Frances, Lottie, and the street urchin Teddy. I also liked Nell and it will be interesting to see if she makes other appearances.

Overall, it was a fast-paced mystery with a wide cast of heroes and villains and you have to figure out which is which before you can solve all three mysteries. I was afraid we’d be left with a bit of a cliffhanger, but the author closed it all up and tied a nice neat bow around it.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.