Blog Tour – Winning Back His Duchess by Amanda McCabe

Winning Back His Duchess

Winning Back His Duchess

Wiining Back Cover

Escape to beautiful Venice for this Victorian marriage reunited story…

An invitation to Venice…

To save their marriage!

Suggesting divorce to her estranged husband, Jamie, Duke of Byson, takes all of Rose Wilkins’s courage. Years of distance and heartbreak have taken a toll—she needs a new start. But Jamie won’t hear of divorce, because of the scandal alone. His counteroffer is a trip to Venice… Might discovering Venice’s delights together rekindle the still-simmering desire that drew Rose to Jamie as a starry-eyed young American heiress?

Purchase Links:

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Winning Back - Amanda McCabe Author1
Author Bio:

Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…)
She’s never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Santa Fe with a Poodle, a cat, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.

Social Media Links:

Facebook ~ Website ~ Instagram ~ Twitter

Tracy’s Review:

Winning Back His DuchessWinning Back His Duchess by Amanda McCabe

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars 

Series: Dollar Duchesses, #3

Release Date: March 29, 2022

If you have been following the series, you will recall that heiress Rose Wilkins and the youngest son of the Duke of Byson Lord James “Jamie” Grantley met, fell in love, and married in the first book. But three years later, Jamie is now the duke, and trouble in paradise has led to our lovers separating.

Rose was adrift after a miscarriage caused the loss of their baby and then lost Jamie to drink and his own dark world. After months apart, she has decided that it is time put the past behind her and move on. Rose is a celebrated beauty and loves the season, while Jamie is more studious and rarely attends events. After making her decision, Rose visits him and requests a divorce. But Jamie doesn’t want to end their marriage, he knows he hurt Rose and wants a chance to win her back. Rose agrees to wait and even agrees to visit his estate. It is there that they begin to heal from their loss and they begin to rekindle their love, leading Rose to wonder if they could have a future. But it isn’t until they travel to Italy and she is confronted by her past that she will learn the answer to her ponderance and find out if Jamie is worthy of her heart.

I liked this book, but I was confused by the vagueness of the timeline and the events that caused their separation. This story starts three years after they met, but the author makes it seem like they have been separated for a long time – anywhere from “many months” to “almost a year” – and then there is the loss of their baby – she was far enough along to know the sex of the baby and spent months mourning, before leaving Jamie – so it doesn’t seem like there was enough time for everything to happen. The book is very emotional and might trigger some readers, the characters are both hurting from not only the loss of their child but the loss of their relationship, and the journey back to each other is slow and has a healthy dose of angst before they find their HEA. Overall, this was a very touching, low heat story of second chances, hope, and love. This is the third book in the series, but it could 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 the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

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Lady Ludmilla’s Accidental Letter by Sofi Laporte – Blog Tour

Published February 25th 2022 by Lapuerta Publishing

Lady Ludmilla’s Accidental Letter

A resolute spinster. An irresistible rake. One accidental letter… Can love triumph over this hopeless muddle in the middle of the London season?

Lady Ludmilla is mortified. Though the spinster extraordinaire knows it is foolish, she has fallen head-over-heels for the amiable man with whom she’s been secretly corresponding, and that cannot be. When she sets out to uncover his identity, her world shatters. For her best friend Addy turns out to be none other but London’s worst rogue—the man who has ruined her engagement to someone else ten years earlier.

Lord St.Addington is perturbed. The wicked Viscount is developing a marked tendre for a spinster, and that cannot be. She might be mistaking him for someone he is not, or, what is worse, know precisely who he is. As London’s worst hellrake, he has a role to maintain, a charade to play. A depraved heart like his surely can’t be falling in love…least of all with a plain, outspoken spinster.

Determined to discover the truth behind the man she loves, Lu does what she does best: she sits down and writes a letter…

If you crave a humorous romp with witty banter and surprising twists, you will love Sofi Laporte’s charming masquerade.

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09MFQ1FKQ

US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MFQ1FKQ

Author Bio – Sofi was born in Vienna, grew up in Seoul, studied Comparative Literature in Maryland, U.S.A., and lived in Quito with her Ecuadorian husband. When not writing, she likes to scramble about the countryside exploring medieval castle ruins. She currently lives with her husband, 3 trilingual children, a sassy cat and a cheeky dog in Austria. Sofi writes sweetly simmering Regency Romance with mischievous, witty banter, and heart-throbbing happily-ever-after. 

Social Media Links
Visit Sofi’s website at www.sofilaporte.com,

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sofilaporteauthor

Instagram @https://www.instagram.com/sofilaporteauthor/

Bookbub: @sofilaportebooks

Barbara’s Review

Lady Ludmilla's Accidental LetterBarbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5 Stars
Series: Merry Spinsters, Charming Rogues #1
Publication Date: 2/25/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 266

While this is not this author’s first book, it is the first book I’ve read by her. I enjoyed the read and am thoroughly looking forward to the next book in the series – but, unfortunately, we won’t get it for another year. The book was witty and humorous, but I didn’t ‘feel’ that strong attraction between the two main characters after they met face-to-face. Their letters definitely showed a connection, but it didn’t seem to carry through once they met – we were told it was there, but somehow, I just didn’t feel it. Golly – much of what I’ve just said sounds a bit negative, so, let me say again – I really enjoyed the read and will definitely read the next one.

Lady Ludmilla Windmere is a spinster at twenty-eight and believes herself to be the ugly duckling of the spectacularly attractive Windmere family. That belief was fostered by an unfortunate event that caused her to leave London during her first season and she hasn’t been back in the last ten years. Three years ago, she wrote a congratulatory letter to a friend, but was unaware the friend had moved. The letter she wrote was entertaining and witty – and gendered a response from the person who now lives at the residence. The reply Lady Ludmilla received was also witty and entertaining, so the two of them continued to correspond even though it turned out that the other person was a male and it was totally improper for them to write to each other. They don’t even know each other’s real names – she is Lu and he is Addy.

Adrian, Viscount Addington, is London’s most outstanding rake. He’s charming, witty, and the ladies fawn over him. Thanks to an experience in his teens, he has become an excellent actor and he only shows the world what he wants them to see. That persona isn’t the real him – but it is what everyone believes of him. The only person he trusts is his cousin Adam – because Adam is the only one in his family who stood by him when he needed it most.

Lu and Addy are each reluctant to meet the other because their friendship has become special to each of them and they are afraid actually meeting will spoil that. Yet, each is desperately curious about the other. They begin a dance around each other – enlisting the help of Adam and Ludmilla’s sister Juliet. With mishaps, mixups, and a bit of misleading each other, can they get together and find their HEA? You’ll just need to read the book to see.

I can certainly recommend this book as a fun and entertaining read. There are what I think are historical inaccuracies – as in Ludmilla purchasing and owning property in her own name. I don’t believe that was acceptable at the time – but I could be wrong there. What did keep throwing me out of the story though – was the use of the phrase ‘hell rake’. It could be a perfectly acceptable phrase for the time, but I have never seen it in the hundreds of historical romance books I’ve read. I’ve always seen the term ‘rakehell’, so when I see ‘hell rake’, it immediately sets my mind off wondering whether that is actually correct or not.

Regardless of owning property and hell rakes, I enjoyed the read and I hope you will as well. I’m looking forward to the next book, which I believe is titled Miss Ava’s Scandalous Secret.

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