Category: #Giveaway

The Lady’s Proposal to the Laird by Jeanine Englert ~ BLOG TOUR

On By TracyIn #Giveaway, Blog Tour, Contests/Giveaways, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Lady’s Proposal for the Laird

A betrothal bargain

With the Highlander from her past

When Susanna Cameron needs to thwart her brothers’ plan to marry her off, she turns to her childhood sweetheart, Laird Rowan Campbell, with a daring proposal—to be her pretend betrothed! In exchange, she’ll help the now-hardened Rowan get revenge on the man who killed his family. The only flaw in Susanna’s plan—their returning attraction!   

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Author Bio
Jeanine Englert’s love affair with mysteries and romance began with Nancy Drew, Murder She Wrote, and her Grandmother’s bookshelves full of romance novels. She is a VIVIAN® and Golden Heart® Finalist as well as a Silver Falchion, Maggie, and Daphne du Maurier Award Winner in historical romance and mystery. Her Scottish Highland historical and historical romantic suspense novels revolve around characters seeking self-acceptance and redemption. When she isn’t wrangling with her characters on the page, she can be found trying to convince her husband to watch her latest Masterpiece or BBC show obsession. She loves to talk about books, writing, her beloved rescue pups, as well as mysteries and romance with other readers.

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Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Goodreads ~ BookBub ~ Instagram

Giveaway

Giveaway – Escape to the Scottish Highlands with a Cuppa and a Cow (Open To UK/US/Canada)

Enjoy reading a signed print copy of The Lady’s Proposal for the Laird with a beautiful Scottish tea cup and the companionship of an adorable matching Highland Cow made by Tom of Loch Ness designs in Scotland! 

*Terms and Conditions –UK. US & Canada entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Tracy’s Review

The Lady's Proposal For The Laird (Secrets of Clan Cameron, Book 2) (Mills & Boon Historical)The Lady’s Proposal For The Laird (Secrets of Clan Cameron, Book 2) by Jeanine Englert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Secrets of Clan Cameron, #2

Release Date: March 26, 2024

 

Susanna Cameron and Rowan Campbell once shared a youthful infatuation that ended badly when Rowan proposed, and Susanna rejected him at her father’s command. They both went on to find new loves, but once again her father refused to let her marry the man of her heart, he even went as far as to send her love, Jeremiah on a suicide mission, which lead to his death, and crushing Susanna’s heart. Always volatile, Susanna became cold, and calculated, refusing to ever wed or forgive her father. After her father’s death, her brother Royce became laird and began to look into his father’s dealings and made a discovery that changed their lives forever and gained him a wife. But secrets were discovered, secrets that Royce fear will destroy his family and to protect them, he is demanding that Susanna wed. She demands answers and when none are forthcoming, she enlists the aid of her first love, the now widowed Rowan Campbell. She wants him to pretend to court her so they can learn what Royce is hiding and in exchange, she will help him gain vengeance on the man who murdered his wife and son. It is the perfect arrangement, because she knows she will never love again and is sure Rowan feels the same, so they will both get what they want and part ways. What could go wrong?

Rowan Campbell loved Susanna with the whole of his young heart, but she rejected him and then fell in love with one of her father’s soldiers, leaving him brokenhearted. It was over a year later before he met Anna and fell in love again, this time with a passion that he had never experienced, they wed and had two children, happiness seemed to be a given. But tragedy struck when a neighboring laird attacked and killed Anna and their son Keir, leaving Rowan devastated. Their loss was more than he could bear, his grief was all consuming and he lost himself to madness. His clan stripped him of the Lairdship and his young daughter was cared for by his sister. It was two years before he finally regained his position, but even now four years after their deaths, the grief and anger are festering and he doesn’t believe he will ever find peace until the MacDonald is dead, he goes through the motions of life for the sake of his daughter, Rosa, the only light in his bleak life, but otherwise, he has no desire to move on with his life. When Susanna approaches him with her scheme, he is surprised that he still feels desire for her, which makes him wary of spending time with her, but the temptation of killing Audric MacDonald is too great and he agrees. Maybe once he has vanquished Audric, he will finally be able to move on and be content.

This book is not what I thought it was going to be, it is a very heavy, emotional read and I was not really prepared for that, so this review might seem as if I didn’t like the book, but I did, I just didn’t love it. The writing is great, and I really believed that Susanna loved Jeremiah with all her heart, just like I believed that Rowan loved Anna the same way – I would even say that Susanna and Jereimah as well as, Anna and Rowan were soulmates – that said, a I felt that a lot of the book focused on the love that the primary characters had for other people, with a depth that seemed to make both of them emotionally unavailable, which made it hard for me to really believe that they fell in love with each other. My heart broke for both of them and I was happy that they both found a way to move on from the past and their crippling grief, but I just didn’t feel the romance between them. I am sure it doesn’t help that I am more of a “soulmate” type romance lover – I know that love after love is possible, and that there are different types of romantic love, but for me, when I am reading a romance, I want that “you are the love of my life, my other half, my soulmate” type of love. So that’s on me, not the author. This is the second book in the series, but I think it could be read as a standalone title with no problem, but if you can, read the books in order.

*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.*

 

The Forger and the Duke Blog Blitz

On By TracyIn #Giveaway, Blog Tour, Book Publicity, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Tracy's Reviews2 Comments

The Forger and the Duke
Misty Urban
(Ladies Least Likely, #2)
Publication date: March 5th 2024
Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance

In 1776 London, orphaned vicar’s daughter Amaranthe Illingworth supports her small household with her skills as a copyist, but her quiet routine is shattered the day three children show up at her door seeking aid from her brother, their tutor. Behind them storms in Malden Grey, would-be barrister and their erstwhile guardian, who accuses Amaranthe of kidnapping the young Duke of Hunsdon and his siblings.

The former duke’s illegitimate son, Malden Grey has learned to live by his wits, and he’s told he’ll advance to the bar if he takes a proper wife. As she helps him restore order at Hunsdon House, Amaranthe seems a likely candidate—if only Mal can unearth the truth behind the rumors that she’s been forging, and selling, priceless medieval manuscripts. Amaranthe, in the meantime, needs to stay on her guard lest the charming Malden Grey steal her heart at the same time she’s hoping to borrow from his library a priceless book that could make her fortune.

But when Mal’s foray into Amaranthe’s past yields a discovery that will change both of their destinies, they’ll have to fight together to clear their names and stake out a future together—if either has a future at all.

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EXCERPT:

She set the portrait gently in its place. Mal battled the impulse to take those cool, capable fingers and press them against his aching head.

“And where is your mother now?” Her steady, fathomless gaze rested on him.

“She died when I was young.” Dear Lord, he was becoming sentimental. He pushed the weakness aside. “You are coming to know a great deal about us, Miss Illingworth, and I know very little about you.”

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled widely, and Mal cast about for breath. “We have not even been properly introduced.”

“Malden Grey of Bristol, aspiring to the bar.” He held out his hand.

“Malden,” she said, and a silken quality in her voice made him shudder, as did the slide of her fingers as she placed them in his.

“You haven’t told me your name.” His voice roughed his chest.

“Miss Amaranthe Illingworth of St. Cleer, Cornwall. My father was very fond of classical antiquity, so he chose a Greek name for me.” She held the volume of housekeeper’s accounts close to her chest, like a shield.

He sat back. She appeared completely unconcerned to learn he was a bastard, the status he wore like a brand on his forehead, marking him as less than, as lacking.

She rose, and he scrambled to his feet. Very neatly she placed her glass on the shelf beneath the decanter. Her eyes traced the figurines above, all of them representing mythological half-women with breasts prominently displayed.

“They’re not mine,” Mal said.

That small, maddening smile quirked her lips again. “No, they are young Hunsdon’s now, I imagine. I’ve seen this and worse among some of the medieval marginalia I’ve copied, Mr. Grey. You wouldn’t believe some of the grotesques those monks could dream up. I suppose it comes from being locked away day after day with no company but other men.”

That was his problem as well, Mal decided. Too much time in the company of other men. That was why she riled his senses so potently.

He moved around the desk toward her as she stepped away. “I can drive you tomorrow. When you make inquiries about hiring servants. What time shall I bring the carriage round?”

She hesitated, and her face went studiously blank. A slither across the back of his neck told him this was the expression she assumed when she was withholding something. He was beginning to recognize it.

“Eyde made up a room for me here,” she said. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not. There are dozens of rooms.” Or so he thought. Hunsdon House was not his, as nothing about the Hunsdon estate was to be his—not even the family name—and so he’d never let much of it occupy his attention.

Mal wondered which room Miss Illingworth would select for her own. Did she see her silk-smooth skin as best set off by the draperies in the Blue Room? Would she choose the Oriental patterns of the Jade Room? Or would she, like an empress of old, demand the royal purple? He imagined her nearby in the house going about her nightly routine, taking down her hair, drawing off her prim robe, perhaps splashing water onto her face that would run down that softly stern neck to the collarbones hidden beneath her gown and—

He’d best stop imagining Miss Illingworth at her ablutions. He was about to embarrass himself.

“Till tomorrow then, Miss Illingworth.” Had she said he could call her Amaranthe? He wanted to roll the name over his tongue. It was exotic, yet robust. A name with command and presence, much like the woman.

Good Lord! That brandy had turned his wits. He was behaving like a moonstruck calf. No, worse.

“Till tomorrow,” she said softly, and her gaze held his. The flickering candlelight brought out violet shadows in her eyes, and all the air left Mal’s body. He wanted to be found worthy of that calm, assessing gaze.

There was no way she would ever find him worthy.

The door shut behind her, and Mal smacked a hand to his head to clear it. He’d best bring himself in order. They had business to conduct. Problems to solve.

She had secrets he wanted very much to discover.

He had gotten his first good look at Miss Amaranthe Illingworth. He wanted a second. And a third.

Author Bio:

Misty Urban is a medieval scholar, freelance editor, and college professor who likes to write stories about misbehaving women who find adventure and romance. She holds an MFA and Ph.D. from Cornell University and lives in the Midwest in a little town on a big river.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram


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