Author: Tracy

Avid reader (and reviewer) of historical romance.

How To Train Your Earl by Amelia Grey

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How to Train Your Earl (First Comes Love, #3)How to Train Your Earl by Amelia Grey

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: First Comes Love, #3

Release Date: April 27, 2021

Five years after the death of her beloved husband Stewart, Brina Feld is more certain than ever that she will never remarry, but she concedes that it might be time to start living again, which is how she came to meet Zane Browning, the Earl of Blacknight. While attending a masked ball in Paris and attempting to escape the attentions of a drunk rake, Brina ducks into a room to hide and finds Zane tied to a chair. He tells her to untie him and after a bit of amusing banter, she releases him so he can go rescue his cousin, but before he goes, Zane gives Brina a kiss she will not soon forget!

Months later, Zane is back in London and taking up the reins of the earldom he never expected to inherit, when he sees his mystery woman. He quickly learns who she is and decides then and there that she is his future countess. He proceeds to place a bet that she will accept his proposal of marriage by midnight at the last ball of the season.

Brina is secretly thrilled to be reunited with Zane, but horrified that he has placed a bet – she has no desire to remarry and decides to beat him at his own game, by publicly agreeing to marry him IF he can stop drinking, gambling, swearing, and womanizing, if he can’t (and she is sure he won’t), she will accept his apology on the night of the final ball. Let the games begin!

Of the three books in the series, I liked this one the best. I have read all three books about the widows of the Salty Dove and have not been overly excited by any of them – the idea was good, but I just never really got sucked into any of the stories. The writing is fine, I do question some of the author’s “rules of proper etiquette” as some of them completely contradict anything I have ever read in other books – including Jane Austen. However, Zane was a wonderful hero and I thoroughly enjoyed his interactions with Brina and his family – he was just about perfect and a delight to read. The story has a lot going on, it touches on a lot of emotions like grief, mourning, anger, and guilt, it has cameos from the previous heroes and heroines, it has love scenes that are mostly kissing and barely warm, and a sweet ending that was perfectly done. This was the final book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title with no problems.

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

The Accidental Duke by Barbara Devlin

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The Accidental Duke (The Mad Matchmaking Men of Waterloo, #1)The Accidental Duke by Barbara Devlin

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Mad Matchmaking Men of Waterloo, #1

Release Date: April 14, 2021

Anthony Bartlett lost much more than just his arm in the war, he lost the life he knew as the “spare” to the Duke of Swansborough. With the death of his older brother, Anthony became the duke’s heir and inherited not only his brother’s courtesy title of Marquess of Rockingham, but his brother’s fiancée as well, and he wants neither – much to his father’s dismay. But after almost a year of convalescing – the duke is done coddling Anthony and makes his position clear – Anthony will marry and produce an heir. Anthony seemingly agrees but plans to find a way out of his unwanted betrothal.

Lady Arabella Gibbs is the only child of the Earl of Ainsworth and is equally determined to escape the bonds of matrimony. But when she meets Anthony, she sees a wounded soul and her sweet, caring nature cannot turn her back on his suffering. She offers Anthony her friendship, which he immediately rebuffs. And while Arabella doesn’t want to marry and agrees to work with him to end the engagement, she is still set on helping Anthony overcome the deep, unseen wounds that are still festering in his soul.

Slowly, Anthony realizes his mistake in trying to push away Arabella, and she soon becomes his lifeline in his struggle to be “normal” while dealing with flashbacks to the war. They have formed a true bond and are exploring their shared attraction when they are outmaneuvered by their parents and marriage becomes unavoidable. But marriage is the least of their problems when it becomes clear that Anthony’s father has betrayed him and they are taken captive by an evil man set on “fixing” Anthony. After months of confinement, they are finally able to escape but to save his love, Anthony will sacrifice himself to see her free – a sacrifice Arabella is not willing to let him make as long as she has breath in her body – with the help of Anthony’s friends, she declares war on the duke to save the man she loves!

This was a very deep and emotional story, written with startling and heartwrenching detail. As always the author has researched her subject matter and produced a well-plotted, original, interesting story with wonderful characters, warm love scenes, great secondary characters, accurate historical detail, and a beautiful love story complete with a happy ending. I did enjoy the story, but in all honestly, I found the book a little bit on the wordy side and was guilty of skimming through excessive dialogue that really did nothing to progress the story. All in all, it was a good book that I would be happy to recommend.

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