Category: Top Pick – Highly Recommended

Infamous by Minerva Spencer

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

Infamous (Rebels of the Ton, #3)Infamous by Minerva Spencer

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Rebels of the Ton, #3

Release Date: September 28, 2021

What goes around comes around, or so it would seem – ten years ago mean girl and diamond of the first water, Miss Celia Trent seemingly had the world at her feet and was just hours away from being proposed to by Lucien Redvers, the Earl of Davenport when a mean spirited prank she and her partner in crime, Sebastian, the Duke of Dowden, played against his twin – studious Richard, went awry, leaving Lucien wed to wallflower Phyllida “Phil” Singleton, Celia being dubbed Lady Infamous and becoming a pariah and Richard slipping away completely unscathed.

Now ten years later, Sebastian is set to marry Lucien and Richard’s sister, Miss Antonia ”Toni” Redvers and a lavish Christmas wedding/house party is being prepared at Lucien’s country estate. It is at the house party that they will all be reunited, much to just about everyone’s dismay – except Richard, who is looking forward to exploring the attraction he still feels towards Celia!

Celia has changed, life dealt her a bad hand and yes, she was nasty, but once you learn more of her past, you begin to understand why she acted the way she did – not that it made her actions acceptable, but who can’t understand youthful insecurity, peer pressure, and jealousy? Celia knows she was awful to Phil and expects the woman to gloat as Celia is now a paid companion. But that doesn’t happen, Phil struggles with her own insecurities and the appearance of Celia in her home brings things that have been simmering for years to a full boil!

I was not a fan of the first two books in this series and almost passed on this title – Thank Goodness I didn’t! OMG – I loved this book! It is well-written and nicely paced with the dual love stories perfectly balanced, and neither couple being slighted. Throw into the mix a couple of parrots, geriatric canines, a vindictive groom, an insect obsessed hero, a heroine with secrets, cameos from Hugh and Daphne, conversations that were years in the making, long overdue apologies, a bride who can plant a perfect roundhouse punch, some steamy love scenes and a lot of witty banter and you have a nearly perfect read complete with two HEAs and an epilogue! This is the third book in the series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title with no problem. I thoroughly enjoyed this uncorrected proof and would happily recommend it!

*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.*

Two Secret Sins by Anna Campbell

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Two Secret Sins (A Scandal in Mayfair, #2)Two Secret Sins by Anna Campbell

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: A Scandal in Mayfair, #2

Release Date: August 31, 2021

The ton would be shocked to learn that the oh-so-proper Eliot Ridley, Viscount Colville is having a passionate affair with the oh-so-scandalous widow, Lady Verena Gerard, but this unlikely couple has been burning up the sheets for half a year and their passion shows no signs of waning! But all that changes when Eliot is called away and they don’t see each other for a month. Eliot returns and realizes that a secret affair is no longer what he wants – he wants Verena as his wife and will accept nothing less.

Lady Verena has suffered at the hands of men, first her father and then her husband, even her brothers failed her by ignoring her pain and suffering. So as soon as her abusive husband died Verena vowed to never cede control of her life to another man – she would live life on her terms, take lovers and never remarry. Taking Eliot as her lover was something she never would have imagined and her feelings for him border on dangerous to her peace of mind, on more than one occasion she has thought about ending their affair, but can’t bring herself to part from him – that is until he proposes!

Verena refuses his proposal and tries to make him see reason, that marriage to her would ruin him and by extension his sister, but Eliot doesn’t care and is sure that they can weather the scandal together. Still, Verena refuses and ends their affair. Something that makes them both miserable, but is necessary in her mind. Will Eliot convince her that love is worth the scandal or will he realize that to prove his love, he will have to give up on his dream of HEA and let her go?

What a great read! It is a well-written, fast-moving story with wonderful characters and steamy love scenes (YAY!!!) The story has a lot of emotion, a bruised-but-not-broken heroine, a heart of gold hero, steamy love scenes, horse races, great secondary characters, a little heartache, and then a great ending complete with an epilogue. My only complaint with this book is that there is a very intriguing character introduced at the end of the book and then that storyline is dropped without any closure, I thought she might pop up in the epilogue, but sadly she didn’t – I have my fingers crossed that she and Shelburn will make an appearance in the next book and I will get my answers. Other than that very minor point, this was a great book, the timeline runs parallel to the first book, but you definitely don’t need to read that book to enjoy this one (but you should read it anyway because it is awesome). I would happily recommend this story and cannot wait for the next installment!