Category: Part of a Series

The Rose and the Earl by Jillian Eaton

On By TracyIn Book Publicity, Novella, Part of a Series, Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Rose and the Earl (Ravishing Rosewoods Book 3)The Rose and the Earl by Jillian Eaton

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Ravishing Rosewoods, #3

Release Date: December 8, 2022

After years of waiting, Lady Annabel Rosewood is finally getting the season she so desperately wanted, but sadly, her dreams of finding Prince Charming and living happily ever after are fading with each new suitor. After yet another night of pretending to be having the time of her life, she has had enough and claims to have a headache and leaves the ball early, believing that nothing magical will ever happen for her as it did for her happily married sisters. But a case of mistaken identity leads to her boldly claiming a kiss, her life will never be the same and it certainly won’t be boring!

Ezra Washington, Earl of Whitmore and heir to the Marquess of Richborough, is a rogue, a rake, and just shy of being a full-blown scoundrel, but he likes his life – or at least he did. He will admit to himself that he is bored, which is probably why he agreed to a juvenile prank that involved pretending to be a highwayman. But the plan backfires in spectacular fashion when they hold up the wrong carriage and the stunningly beautiful woman inside demands a kiss. Never one to disappoint a lady, Ezra complies but is shaken to his core by the kiss. They part ways but he can’t stop thinking about her. So when it seems like fate is smiling at him and they meet again, he knows that he can’t let her slip away again. Too bad for him that Annabel has a different ending in mind for them.

This was a well-written, delightful read with wonderful characters and a surprisingly fleshed-out plot for a novella. The book has witty banter, great secondary characters, steamyish love scenes, a bit of heartache, and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue. I would agree with another reviewer that the “prologue” was strange and definitely not something that happened before the story begins, as you would expect from a prologue – it wasn’t bad, but it did seem out of sync. Overall, this was a great, easy read and I would be happy to recommend it. It is part of a series but can be read as a standalone title with no problem.

*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.*

Nice Earls Do by Susanna Craig

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Nice Earls Do (Goode's Guide to Misconduct, #0.5)

Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5
Series: Goode’s Guide to Misconduct #0.5
Publication Date: 12/27/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 91 (Novella)

This short novella provided a nice set-up for the series by explaining how the magazine comes to exist and also the infrastructure behind it. I really liked the characters because they were interesting and were people I would have liked to know in real life. I’ll be really interested to see what role Oliver will play in the future because, to me, he is the most interesting character in the book.

Remember, this is a short book whose main purpose is to set up the rest of the series and to provide us with a bit of romance. I just couldn’t give it a full 4 or 5-star rating because it just wasn’t long enough for the romance to be believable. The two main characters Tabetha and Kit, grew up together as children and each regarded the other with affection but never told the other. Tabetha and Kit were from two different worlds and would never have been allowed to have a life together.

Twenty years later, Tabetha is a widow and Kit has never married but has unexpectedly inherited a title. To me, that has all of the makings of a grand romance. However, since it is a novella, it loses a good deal of that. For instance – though the two of them had never declared their feelings for each other when they were younger – and they haven’t seen each other in over twenty years – they are madly in love and betrothed in less than twenty-four hours. I’m sorry – I love romance, but if I hadn’t seen somebody in over twenty years, I’d want to know more about the sort of person they’d become and the things they’d done in their life before I decided to become betrothed to them. So, for me, the romance was a bit too quick.

Still, it was a very nice read with a good setup for the series.

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

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