Category: Part of a Series

Binding the Baron by Charlie Lane

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Historical Paranormal/Fantasy, New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Romantasy, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Binding the Baron (Alchemy of Desire #1)Binding the Baron by Charlie Lane

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Alchemy of Desire, #1

Release Date: December 19, 2025

In an alternate late-Georgian era England, where transcendent powers are weld by the titled men of the ton and the men of the gentry practice alchemy, something strange happened when Lady Diana Chester’s grandfather passed away and his powers transferred to Diana instead of her cousin Apollo, the new Marquess of Fordham. She is shocked by the discovery and keeps it secret and tries to find a way to transfer the power to Apollo, whom she is supposed to marry. She goes to great lengths to end the betrothal, including purchasing a love potion, which part of is accidently ingested by alchemist, Temple Grant – a favorite of the king. She is able to salvage most of the potion and has Apollo take it and obsess over his mistress. But that doesn’t negate the effect the potion had on Temple, who was immediately smitten and asked her to marry him, and she can’t deny she is attracted to him too, but she has no time for a tryst and slips away, sure the potion will wear off with no long-lasting effects. The next day she is confronted by Apollo who has learned the truth and tries to kill her to gain the power, forcing her to run for her life. She isn’t sure what to do and makes her way back to the potion shop, where she finds safe-haven and an unexpected protector in the form of Temple Grant.

Temple Grant performed a service for England and King William rewarded him with the title of Baron Knightly and the position of Royal Alchemist. But the honor didn’t make his life better as the king assumed it would, in fact it made things worse – he and his family were ostracized by his fellow alchemists and shunned and belittled by the ton – leaving him adrift between two worlds. Add to that the king wants him to marry into the ton and has tasked him with an impossible mission. When he meets Diana and accidentally ingests a drop of her love potion, he believes she would make the perfect wife for him – too bad she doesn’t agree, telling him the potion is responsible for his proposal. But even after the potion should have worn off – he still wants her. She finally agrees when he offers her something she needs, protection from her cousin. It is the perfect solution, she gets protection and he gets the bride the king has ordered him to take – falling in love was never part of the bargain – until it was…

I really enjoyed this fun and quirky story; it is well written and nicely paced with wonderful characters. I loved Diana and Temple, they had an incredible connection, and their banter was highly entertaining. The story is filled with amazing characters, laugh-out-loud moments, a completely redeemable villain, steamyish love scenes, magic, found family, some nail-biting moments and finally a lovely ending with the promise of HEA. I will admit that I didn’t really understand the magic system, and even now, I still don’t understand, and the story did drag a bit – but the story was fun, nonetheless. This is the first book in a new series, and I am happy to recommend this title for anyone who enjoys historical romantasy!

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

A Most Worthy Husband by Faye Delacour

On By TracyIn Contemporary in Period Dress, Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901), Women's FictionLeave a comment

A Most Worthy Husband (The Lucky Ladies of London, #3)A Most Worthy Husband by Faye Delacour

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: The Lucky Ladies of London

Release Date: December 16, 2025

Having no desire to marry and endure the unhappiness that her parents have, Miss Hannah Williams has thwarted any man that was even remotely interested in her for four seasons, she is sure if she can make it through this season, her mother will finally give up, and Hannah can live her life as a spinster. But when it becomes clear that her mother is not going to give up – Hannah takes matters into her own hands and bribes her brother’s friend Silas Corbyn to kiss her and “ruin” her – knowing full well he was not an acceptable match in her mother’s eyes, which means she will be sent back to the country in disgrace. Too bad she underestimated her mother!

Silas Corbyn is not having a good year, it started out good and things were going so well, he was due for a long-awaited promotion, but that hope is shattered when he punched his commanding officer and is dishonorably discharged from the Navy. He tries to return home, but his father wants nothing to do with him. So, he takes the little money he has and goes to London. His friend Eli Williams takes pity on him and convinces his wife to let Silas work as a dealer in her gaming salon. This is the second chance he has been hoping for, and things are once again going well – until he finds Eli’s sister Hannah hiding in a small office at the salon. She offers him a small fortune to kiss her in front of her mother, he agrees, but never expected that kiss would change his life! He knows he is not of Hannah’s class and would never be considered a suitor, but that doesn’t stop her from offering him more money to pretend to be in love with her – he refuses. He loses his job over the incident and has trouble finding work, so when his cousin and brother arrive with a business opportunity, he reconsiders Hannah’s offer, after all it’s not like they would ever actually marry!

After the disappointment of the previous book, I had high hopes for this installment. I actually liked the author’s writing style in the first book, but I have a problem with the characters and the plot in this book. It seems like the character’s personalities change from book to book – I liked Hannah in the previous books, but in this book, she came across as very self-absorbed, immature and at times TSTL. Silas was much more likable, and I was horrified that the author made him grovel to Hannah – when he had done nothing wrong. Overall, this book had great promise, but it dragged from almost the first page until the last chapter, when miraculously everything comes together and they both love each other (eye roll) and then it is over – I have no idea how or why they fell in love and honestly by the end, I didn’t even care. This is the third book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone book without a problem – for me, this book was a miss, but the author has a lot of potential and is worth checking out.

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