Category: Part of a Series

The Heiress’s Daughter by Anne Gracie

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's Reviews3 Comments

The Heiress's Daughter (The Brides of Bellaire Gardens #3)The Heiress’s Daughter by Anne Gracie

Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Brides of Bellaire Gardens, #3

Release Date: May 21, 2024

With her sister Izzy on her honeymoon, heiress Clarissa Studley is going to have to face the season with just her marriage-minded chaperone for support. Clarissa’s father was an awful man who was unforgivably cruel to both Clarissa and her mother, having affair after affair and belittling them both to point that Clarissa is sure that no man would ever want more than her fortune. So, when her brother-in-law, Leo’s best friend Lord Randall “Race” begins to show an interest in her, she is sure he is only pretending to like her as a favor to Leo, after all he is gorgeous and a known rake, why would he want a plump, plain country girl like her? Besides, she has bigger things to consider, like the possibility of another sister! But Race doesn’t seem to be giving up and now she has another suitor who is also showing serious intentions. Too bad he doesn’t make her heart beat faster like Race does, but if life with her father taught her anything it is that you can never trust a rake.

Horatio “Race”, Lord Randall may have a reputation as a rake, but it is exaggerated and worked to his advantage before he wanted find a wife. But now it seems that his legendary charm is failing him, because the first and only woman he has ever wanted to marry is doing her utmost to avoid him! He will have to find a way to prove to her that his love is real or risk losing her to the wrong man!

This was a very sweet story but was not as cohesive as I have come to expect from Ms. Gracie. Race and Clarissa are wonderful characters and I wanted to love their journey to HEA, but sadly, the story just seemed to drag and began to feel repetitious. It also had elements that just seemed as if they were added to act as a filler. This book has a very slow-burn romance, feelings of inadequacy, sneaky suitors, surprise relatives, very low-steam love scenes, wonderful secondary characters, and finally a well-earned HEA. I liked this book, but it felt like it would have been better as a novella, as Clarissa’s self-doubts and insecurities just went on way too long and stalled the progress of the story. Overall, it was not a bad book, but not the story I was hoping for. I would recommend it for readers who have been following the series or readers who prefer a lower steam romance. This is the third book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title.

3 maybe 3.5 stars

*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. *

A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets by Kate Khavari

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Interwar Period (Nov 1918 - Sep 1939), Part of a SeriesLeave a comment

A Botanist's Guide to Society and Secrets (A Saffron Everleigh Mystery)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Saffron Everleigh Mystery #3
Publication Date: 6/4/24
Period: Interwar Period – 1920 – London
Number of Pages: 336

As with the first two books of the series, this third book is blossoming with intrigue, murder, mayhem, and a bit of romance. It is set in 1920s London with a rich narrative of period detail. It quickly sucks you into a time when respect was almost impossible for working females to win – especially female scholars.

Saffron Everleigh is a brilliant botanist who has had to fight and claw to claim a place as a researcher at the University – and she has to fight against prejudices, jealousies, and resentment every day to keep that position. In the previous two books, Saffron has willingly become entangled in murder investigations involving poisonous plants. Those investigations jeopardized her job and personal relationships, and she is glad to have left that behind her. With things settling down – her research project underway – and things getting back to an even keel with her work colleague (and romantic interest), microbiologist Alexander Ashton, she is looking forward to her next steps. Until . . .

Alexander has spent a lot of time over the last two books admonishing Saffron for her involvement in murder investigations – though he still helped her. Now, imagine his chagrin when he must ask for her help – with a murder investigation. As part of his job as an engineer, Adrian, Alexander’s brother had traveled by train to pick up a set of plans. He didn’t pay a lot of attention to the only other passenger in his car – until the man died. Since the man was poisoned, Adrian was the prime suspect.

Saffron agrees to do what she can to help, but – this time – Inspector Green isn’t inviting her into the investigation. While she can work around him, his cooperation would be much more helpful. This intricately woven mystery takes Saffron from the university, through secretive government labs, and on to government organizations who all want the biggest, best, most effective weapons.

The mystery is engaging, the prose educational, and the story easily translatable into today’s world. I particularly enjoyed the growth of Saffron’s relationship with Alexander and hope that continues to be the case. Yet another interesting part of the story is Nick, Saffron’s best friend’s brother. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? He certainly gave no indications of any soft good-guy edges to him, so I have to wonder if we won’t see more of him because he wants Saffron to work at one of his secret government labs.

This is a well-crafted story that I can recommend if you enjoy a thrilling, thought-provoking read. When I mentioned above that it was educational, I was truthful, as it is filled with a plethora of information on plants, poisons, microbes, methodologies, etc. For me personally, I could do with less of that, but it doesn’t detract from the story in the least – and it might even raise my IQ a bit.

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