Category: Part of a Series

Review: A Worthington Wedding by Ella Quinn

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

A Worthington Wedding (Here Come the Grooms, #1)Barbara’s rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Series: Here Come The Grooms #1
Publication Date: 11/26/24
Period: Regency

This author’s first entry in her new Here Come The Grooms series pits a quickly besotted Earl against a ‘having none of it’ spinster. It is a continuation of the two previous Worthing series and has appearances by those characters. Our two main characters are Miss Oriana Ognon, daughter of a Viscount, and Charles (Charlie) Carpenter, Earl of Stanwood. If you have read the preceding series, you have already met Charlie.

While Oriana doesn’t particularly dislike men, she definitely distrusts them. First her father, and now her cousin have gambled away all of the assets of the Viscountcy. If it weren’t for her maternal aunt, Oriana would be without a home or support. Thankfully, her aunt left her a lovely home and the funds to support herself and her home. That, however, doesn’t stop her wastrel cousin from gambling away the deed to her home and she is besieged by a constant stream of gamblers who show up at her door to lay claim to it. She has to prove, over and over, that the home is hers and that her cousin has no right to gamble away the title. MEN! She’ll never trust one and certainly not one who shows up after having ‘won’ the title to her home.

Charlie never gambles – except playing for pennies with his family. He always wins! So, he doesn’t doubt the outcome when he decides to play cards with Viscount Ognon after hearing he was wagering away one of his holdings – one in which his young female cousin lives. Charlie will win the title and sign it over to the young woman living in the home. Nobody should gamble away assets needed to provide a roof over the family’s head and Charlie will right this one wrong anyway.

The greeting Charlie gets when he shows up at Oriana’s door is not what he expected. She hardly gives him time to speak before booting him out the door. Well, well. Charlie has been looking for THE woman who will pique his interest. It seems he has just met her. So, now, how will he convince her that he is a good, trustworthy man and not an inveterate gambler?

I was really looking forward to seeing Charlie’s HEA, but, for me, it just fell flat. The first 40% or so of the book was pretty good and I could see the story’s potential – then, not so much. For one thing, I never felt that I got to ‘know’ Charlie or Oriana and I didn’t really feel their connection. Some of the page space that was used for deciding who was eating dinner where, which back path they were going to take from one estate to another, what they were going to have for dinner, and the myriad interactions with former series characters could have been used to further flesh out Oriana and Charlie as well as strengthen the almost non-existent plots of the villains.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Golden Lord by Mary Jo Putney

On By TracyIn Check Content Warning/Triggers, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Historical Paranormal/Fantasy, Non-Traditional Romance, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Romantasy, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Golden Lord (Dangerous Gifts, #2)Golden Lord by Mary Jo Putney

Tracy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars (I’m being generous)

Series: Dangerous Gifts, #2

Release Date: November 26, 2024

When Caden “Cade” Tremayne, an agent for the crown and the eldest of Rhys & Gwen Tremayne’s foster children was informed of his new mission, he knew that this was going to be a mission unlike any before. He is “gifted” and has a strong sense of foreboding and feels anger directed at him specifically. But with England and France on the brink of war, it is imperative to get the English ambassador and him family out of Paris as quickly as possible. He is delighted to learn that his foster sister Lady Tamsyn will be his partner, as they have a close bond and work extremely well together. They set out and both feel the gathering danger, but it isn’t until they are almost ready to board a ship back to England that the danger he had sensed is manifested. Cade is captured by a French agent who is also gifted, and his mind is blocked causing him to forget who and what he is, but Tamsyn manages to mentally connect with him and promises to save him. He believes that she is his wife and when they are finally reunited and his mind is cleared, he is horrified to realize that now Tamsyn knows his secret. A secret that could either be downfall of the “Tribe of Tremayne” or one that could bond them in ways they never imagined.

Lady Tamsyn “Tam” Tremayne is the eldest child and heir to the Tremayne earldom, she is also powerfully gifted and an agent for the home office. Her gift is primarily healing of the mind and body, but she also has a strong gift of intuition. She too senses danger in the upcoming mission and great change, but nothing prepares her for Cade’s secret. She isn’t sure if she can accept the change, but soon knows her heart is with Cade and hopes she will not have to choose between him and her family. But before she can worry about that, she senses that their mission is far from over, they need to get back to England in one piece and thwart Napoleon’s plans!

WARNING: The rest of this review might be a little “Spoilerish” and is definitely opinionated.

I will be honest, this book was not for me, I LOVED the first book but this one… I could not get past the brother/sister thing – I grew up in a family that took in foster children and adopted children, for me they were (and still are) my brothers and sisters – the idea of romantic love between two people who have been raised as brother and sister since they were very young children, is repulsive to me – maybe if they hadn’t met until they were young adults, I could get past it, but the story is clear, they met as very young children and have always considered each other as siblings – in fact most of the book they call each other brother/sister – I just can’t pretend that I am all right with that. That said, yes, I am aware that I have a personal bias – so, please make up your own mind, there are lots of rave reviews for this book and I will not deny that it is an interesting story with very likable characters. And the author makes a good attempt to explain that Cade never really considered her as a sister and always loved her (it just didn’t matter to me – it still felt wrong) the gifted part of the story is good and if they hadn’t been siblings, I probably would have enjoyed it. This is the second book in the series, and I would strongly recommend reading this series in order.

*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. *