This Scot of Mine by Sophie Jordan

This Scot of Mine (The Rogue Files, #4)This Scot of Mine by Sophie Jordan
Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Rogue Files, #4

Release Date: March 12, 2019

The Lairds of the MacLarin clan are cursed – doomed to love but not to live. And for five generations this curse has held, all the previous lairds have died before their firstborn child took it’s first breath.
Laird Hunt MacLarin has spent his life avoiding the curse – he will not marry and will not father a child – but his carefully laid plans turn to dust when a chance encounter brings Lady Clara, sister of the Duke of Autenberry into his life.

Lady Clara is ruined, she has escaped an unwanted betrothal, but the price was exile. She leaves London with her governess/companion Marian and travels to Scotland to live with her brother Marcus and his wife Alyse. She “meets” Hunt when he starts a brawl in the inn she stops at on the way to her brother’s house. She is intrigued by the handsome highlander, but at the same time appalled. He is equally taken by her, but puts her out of his mind, as they will never cross paths again.

But fate has other plans for these two, they meet again at her brother’s home – and when Marcus tells Hunt that Clara is ruined and with child, Hunt thinks he has found a way around the curse – he will marry Clara and raise her child as his own without any danger to himself! But there is a catch – Clara lied, she is not, nor has she ever been, pregnant. She refuses Hunt’s offer, but after her family and Marian press the issue, she reconsiders.

They marry and truths are revealed – Hunt is angry and tells Clara she has killed him. Clara thinks the curse is nonsense – but is it?

I liked this book, but I feel like it could have been so much better, there were a lot of things left unsaid that I think could have added to the story. Hunt and Clara are both likeable leads and have an immediate chemistry, but sadly, I felt like that fizzled out a bit by the end and she never tells him she loves him, which was disappointing. On the upside, there was quite a bit of amusing banter, some warm to steamy love scenes and wonderful secondary characters that helped the story along. I must note that there were a lot of title/formal address errors and some inconsistencies in the story, but this was an uncorrected arc, so it is possible that those will be corrected by publication and therefore, I didn’t take them in to consideration while rating this book. This is the fourth book in the series, but it can definitely be read as a stand alone with no problem.

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

Lady Derring Takes A Lover by Julie Anne Long

Lady Derring Takes a Lover (The Palace of Rogues #1)Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Palace of Rogues #1
Publication Date: 2/26/19
Number of Pages: 384

It has been a long time since I’ve read a book by this author and it is nice to see her in the historical romance category again. I really, really, really wanted to absolutely love this book and from the blurb, I was sure that I would. I liked it pretty well but didn’t absolutely love it. I absolutely adore a great romance with a great mystery, but these seemed to both fall a bit short.

Delilah Swanpool, Countess of Derring, has always been someone’s property to be bargained for their betterment and not her own. When her husband dies suddenly, she finds that he was totally broke and she is now completely penniless. What will become of her now? Her husband had one piece of property that he owned outright and it is now hers, it is all she has – but – it is the first thing she has ever owned, the first thing that is hers.

When Delilah goes to see the property, it is located near the docks – definitely NOT the best part of London. Before trying to enter the forbidding property, she and her maid decide to have something to eat at the nearby pub. In the pub, they meet Delilah’s husband’s former mistress, Angelique, who is in the same predicament as Delilah. Delilah and Angelique decide to sell the few jewels they have left and team up to open a boarding house in Delilah’s property.

Captain Tristan Hardy is the Captain of the King’s Blockade. He’s the king’s favorite hunting dog and has almost rid England of smugglers. There is one group of smugglers left and they have done the unthinkable. They set fire to an aristocrat’s residence and took the lives of the entire family – one of whom was the king’s former mistress. So, the king wants those smugglers caught and punished and he wants it to happen now!

Tristan’s investigation has brought him to London and all information points to the Earl of Derring. Now what? The Earl has just died and Tristan is at a loss. He finally learns of the one piece of property the Earl had left and that the widow has taken possession of it. Is she involved in the smuggling ring? It is up to him to find out.

For the go-getter that Tristan is supposed to be, he certainly seems to carry on a laid back investigation. The romance also didn’t feel real to me. To me, if he had shared who he was and what he was doing with Delilah and they investigated together, there could have been a lot of interest and excitement that the story was missing. As it was, it wasn’t particularly exciting nor romantic, but I did enjoy the read.

I believe the next book will feature Angelique and I look forward to seeing how that one goes.

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