Category: Regency Era (1811-1820)

The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of George III in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV. The term Regency can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811–1820.
Preceded by: Georgian era
Followed by: Victorian era
Monarch: George III, George IV, William IV

The Mistletoe Temptation by Eve Pendle

On By TracyIn Christmas, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Novella, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Mistletoe Temptation: A Regency Christmas Romance (Faking Stitch Book 2)The Mistletoe Temptation: A Regency Christmas Romance by Eve Pendle

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Faking Stitch, #2

Release Date: December 21, 2022

Miss Geraldine “Gina” Bains is an expert at dissuading suitors right under her mother’s nose. Gina is months away from inheriting a fortune from her late father and has big plans to travel the world and those plans don’t include a husband! But despite her subtle tricks to ward off potential husbands, her mother is pushing her even harder to wed and has practically every minute of her day booked with instruction in womanly accomplishments, all of which she hates, save her embroidery “lessons”. So she is shocked when her brother’s best friend, Emmett Stanton sees through her ruse and blackmails her.

Emmett Stanton, son, and heir to the Earl of Hapthorpe had been dreading his promise to his best friend Marmaduke “Duke” Bains to dance with his younger sister, but when he sees Gina he is stunned and smitten. He claims his dance and soon figures out her scheme and thwarts her, much to her surprise, but it isn’t until she dances with someone else and runs out of the ballroom in tears that a plan forms and he gets her to agree to a temporary engagement. She agrees and they will act like the loving couple until she turns 21 on Christmas day, but makes it clear that there will be nothing more between them, especially no kissing, he agrees to only kiss her if she asks him to, to which she scoffs and makes it clear that will never happen and she will be breaking their “engagement” just as soon as she can, but Emmett has already decided that Gina is the perfect woman for him and plans to convince her to marry him, starting by tempting her into kissing him.

What a fun read, Gina and Emmett were such delightful characters that it was easy to root for their HEA. The book is filled with wonderful characters, secrets, lies, ulterior motives, spicy love scenes, a bit of heartache, compromises and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue (and an extended epilogue when you sign up for the author’s newsletter). This novella is part of the Faking Stitch series, but you can absolutely read them out of order. Note – This was previously published in the Twelve Lords for Yuletide anthology.

*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.*

Four Christmas Kisses by Anna Campbell

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

Four Christmas Kisses (A Scandal in Mayfair, #4)Four Christmas Kisses by Anna Campbell

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: A Scandal in Mayfair, #4

Release Date: November 22, 2022

With her worries mounting, Anthea Bryars needed a break from being trapped in the house, a house that she and her half-sisters and her former governess, Winifred won’t be able to call home for too much longer. She is trying to figure out a way that they can all stay together and hasn’t had any luck. Thinking a walk would be just the thing to clear her mind, she ventures out into the snowy afternoon. But instead of finding peace, she finds a gorgeous, half-dead man and after a bit of struggling, Anthea is able to wake the man, who is grumpy and clearly unappreciative of her kindness, she then manages to get him on his feet, she leads him to the house. Once in the house and with the help of Winifred, they get the grouchy, ingrate cleaned up and into a bed. Hoping he survives, because a dead nobleman is the last thing she needs.

Christopher Trant, the Earl of Denton wakes to find a small girl at the end of the bed engaging her dolls in a battle to the death – the victim is “Cousin Christopher” – he asks the girl where he is but doesn’t get answers until the astounding beautiful woman who saved him walks in. It doesn’t take long to realize that he is in the house he inherited, and apparently has three young cousins whom he unknowingly evicted and who all hate him in residence. He immediately decides to pretend to have amnesia, until he can figure a way out of this mess that doesn’t end with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen hating him. But once he gets to know the girls and Anthea (who thankfully is not his cousin), the harder it is to tell them that he is “Wicked Cousin Christopher”, but if he wants any type of relationship with the girls and more importantly, Anthea, he is going to have to come clean and hope they can forgive him.

This was a fun Christmas-themed read with delightful characters and quite a bit of humor. Christopher and Anthea have an instant attraction, but with his deception hanging between them, it doesn’t seem like HEA is going to happen. I also liked that despite his deception, Christopher was a good man, who honestly didn’t realize that he was displacing the girls and wants to make things right and not just to win Anthea. I did think that Anthea could have been a bit more understanding, but thankfully, she comes around pretty quickly. The book has lies, heated kisses, great secondary characters, lots of mistletoe, some laughs, some tears, and of course a HEA complete with an epilogue. This is the fourth book in the series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

*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.*