Category: Other

Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid

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Her Wicked Marquess (Sinful Wallflowers, #2)Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Sinful Wallflowers, #2

Release Date: December 29, 2020

In an effort to right a wrong, Lady Maryann Fitzwilliam has enlisted her brother Crispin to help her carry out her plan to embarrass her former friend and the reigning belle of the ton, Lady Sophie Wembley. Her plan is simple, she will wait until Sophie comes close to a window in the ballroom and then will have Crispin dump a bucket of grass snakes on her and watch her humiliate herself. But it isn’t Crispin who comes to her aid, a fact she doesn’t learn until after the deed is done. She is horrified and runs away – but soon discovers who her “helper” was – none other than the notorious libertine, Nicolas St. Ives, the Marquess of Rothbury.

Nicolas had his own reasons for being at the ball and for intercepting Crispin. Maryann was never part of his plan, but after meeting her, he is intrigued by her and can’t seem to stop thinking about her. Especially once he learns she plans to use him to ruin her – or at least imply that he ruined her to get out of an arranged marriage. When he overhears her spreading a rumor that he snuck into her room and stole a kiss – he can’t let that slide and proceeds to do just what she accused him of.

But at much as he is captivated by her, he can’t afford to get tangled up with her – at least not until he carries out his plans for revenge on those who hurt someone he loved and cause her to kill herself. He has been setting up his revenge for years and tracking down all the men who were involved in Arianna’s downfall and ultimately her death. He is not positive, but thinks that Maryann’s brother was involved, so that is even more reason for him to stay away – but he just can’t. And as he spends time with her, and begins to fall for her, he knows he will have to make a choice – love or honoring his vow to Arianna’s memory.

This was not a light read and based on the blurb, I was not prepared for a book that was in essence a revenge story – which is not a trope I enjoy. I felt like the book had the potential to be fabulous, but the revenge, inconsistencies, the title errors, and the odd raccoon references (I totally agree with another reviewer who noted this – there were no raccoons in England, so why use them??) – however, the twist at the end of the book was outstanding and the love scenes were smokin’ hot – so the book was not a total miss for me. Overall, the book was not my favorite by this author and it did drag a bit in the middle – but the ending did go a long way into making up for that and as this was an uncorrected arc, I am going to assume inconsistencies and title errors will be corrected before publication (hopefully), so would recommend that you judge for this book for yourself. This is the second book in this series, but they are very loosely connected and are definitely able to be read as stand-alone titles.

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

Under the Warrior’s Protection by Ella Matthews – Blog Tour

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Under the Warriors Protection

Under the Warrior’s Protection

Under The Warriors Protection Cover
Letting down her guard…
Might save her life…
With their family name in tatters, Katherine Leofric and her sister are headed for a new life at their brother’s estate. They are escorted by the hardened Jarin, Earl of Borwyn, whom Katherine believes is only after her dowry! Then her sister is abducted on their treacherous journey, and Katherine must rely on Jarin’s protection. Now, seeing a different side to the man she’s sworn to hate, it’s her heart that’s most at risk!

Purchase Links:
UK – US

Under - Ella Matthews photo

Author Bio :

Ella Matthews lives and works in beautiful South Wales. When not thinking about handsome heroes she can be found walking along the coast with her husband and their two children (probably still thinking about heroes but at least pretending to be interested in everyone else).

Social Media Links:

Twitter ~ Website ~ Facebook

Tracy’s Review:

Under the Warrior's ProtectionUnder the Warrior’s Protection by Ella Matthews

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

After years of seclusion, shame and abuse, sisters Katherine and Linota Leofric are finally free, they will be leaving the Earl of Ogmore’s estate and will travel to their newly married brother’s estate. Hidden away with their abusive mother after their father was hanged for treason, Katherine never expected to marry, she considers herself too old and too plain, but she hopes that her younger, beautiful sister Linota will make a good match. She is waiting for Linota to return from the privy when she overhears Jarin Ashdown, the Earl of Borwyn and his steward Erik Ward talking about them. She learns that Ogmore has offered Jarin a hefty dowry to marry one of the sisters – Jarin was supposed to marry Ogmore’s daughter, but she chose Katherine’s brother and Ogmore is trying to smooth thing over. Jarin makes it clear that the girls are not worthy of his consideration since their father was a traitor and that marriage to one of them will taint his name with dishonor. Katherine is seething and is barely able to stop herself from giving him a piece of her mind. Later see witnesses someone who she believes is Jarin having a secret meeting, but soon realizes it is Erik. She then learns that Jarin is escorting the sisters to their new home and is not at all pleased.

Jarin is in a bind, he really needs the money from the dowry, but promised his father to uphold the family honor and promised his mother to be a better man than his father was. Erik insists that marrying Linota is the solution – she is lovely and brings not only wealth, but a connection to the powerful Earl of Ogmore. Jarin considers it, he feels nothing for Linota, which is good, considering his first marriage was fueled by lust and was a complete disaster. But Katherine, is a different story, she fascinates him, she is not a classic beauty, but she captivates him and makes him hum with desire and it is clear that she dislikes him. He should be glad and should leave her alone, but he can’t seem to stop himself.

They form a truce and agree that they both jumped to conclusions, desire sparks, but when Linota is abducted, Katherine makes Jarin promise to save Linota’s reputation by marrying her, Jarin agrees, but first they need to find Linota and find out who kidnapped her and why. Their search means they have to spend time alone together and the spark they felt begins to grow – but given his promise, they know nothing can come of it, but love isn’t easily dismissed and when they are given a second chance, will they take it or will they walk away?

This was a good book, but I wish I understood Katherine’s backstory a bit better, for instance, why did they live with Ogmore? What did their father do? Why was she treated like a prisoner? Maybe if I knew these things the story would have made more sense to me. Jarin was a great hero and easy to like, I did think they both needed a slap or two, but overall, I enjoyed the story. It has action, intrigue, betrayal, surprising twists, shocking revelations, warmish love scenes, a villain who gets off too easy and a very sweet epilogue. This is the second book in the series, I did not read the first book and have to wonder if my questions would have been answered if I did – I really don’t know, but I did feel like this story lacked adequate backstory to be a standalone title.

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

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