Category: Tracy’s Reviews

Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke

On By TracyIn Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Bookshop Cinderella (Scandal at the Savoy, #1)Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke

Tracy’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: Scandal at the Savoy, #1

Release Date: June 20, 2023

Maximillian “Max” Shaw, Duke of Westbourne meets Miss Evie Harlowe when he enters her bookshop to collect some research for his cousin Delia. The men with him are unkind to Evie, prompting Max to stand up for her, he makes a wager that he can turn Evie into the belle of the season. He approaches her with the wager and offers to take care of everything, but she refuses. But when her shop is flooded, she decides to reconsider and her life will forever change.

Max was once in love and married, but his wife was not prepared for life as his duchess and things end badly. But Max knows he has to marry and has even chosen his would-be duchess, but that was before he met Evie. He finds Evie lovely, and smart, she is also the last woman he should consider. But eventually, the heart wants what it wants, however, he will have his work cut out for him in convincing Evie that they can have their own HEA.

This book isn’t what I was expecting, not that that is a bad thing, but I was thinking more Cinderella and this was a mashup of “She’s all that”, and “My Fair Lady” and even has a bit of “Pretty Woman”. The book starts slow and takes quite a bit of reading to get the story “started” and even then Max and Evie spend quite a lot of time apart and don’t even get me started on the ending. However, when they are together they are great (until the ending), the book also has some wonderful secondary characters, witty dialogue, low-steam love scenes, low angst and ends with a HEA but no epilogue. So for me, this book was good, but not a book I would read again. This is the start of a new series and I will be looking forward to the next book in the series.

*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.*

Lady in the Grove by Jane Charles

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

Lady in the Grove (Magic & Mayhem #6)Lady in the Grove by Jane Charles

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Magic & Mystery, #1 / Magic & Mayhem, #6

Release Date: May 16, 2023

Orion Drakos, the second son of the Earl and Countess of Wharton, has returned to Nightshade Manor in Bocka Morrow to attend the wedding of his cousin Damon Norcott and Cordelia Vail. After the ceremony as he is speaking to Damon when he notices movement at the edge of the grove and sees Damon’s niece Nephele coming out of the wood and asks her what she was doing when she approaches them. Nephele tells him she was speaking to the lady in the grove – intrigued Orion convinces her to show him where she saw the lady and is astounded to learn that the grove extends passed the boxwoods, which he always believed was the edge of the grove. She shows him an opening in the hedge and they enter a clearing with a folly and he sees her, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She is upset by his presence and asks him to leave, when he doesn’t, she does. Orion can’t forget about her and even dreams of her. Determined to get answers, he returns day after day until he finds out that she is Nina Jourdain, the sister of Cassian, the French emigrant that was taken in by his aunt and uncle when he survived a shipwreck that killed his family. But in truth, Cassian saved Nina and begged the Dryads of the grove to save her life, they do but the price is high, Nina will live, but she can never leave the grove.

Orion falls hard for her, but Nina can’t let herself fall for him in return, she has led a quiet life and knows from experience that she cannot leave the grove, so how could she ever consider falling in love or having a family? But Orion isn’t about to give up, he doesn’t care if she can’t leave, he will stay! They seem to be at an impasse and she is firm in her refusal to marry him or even believe he loves her. But her choices are limited and none will give them a true HEA unless they can find a way for her to survive outside the grove, a feat that seems impossible even for a family of witches, or is it?

This was such a great story and I love returning to Bocka Morrow and the witches of Nightshade Manor as well as all the magical beings that reside there, kudos to Jane Charles (and many other authors) who has created this world and kept it going! In this story, I especially loved Orion’s determination to be with Nina and the addition of dryads (tree nymphs) and nereids (water nymphs). I did think the story dragged a bit in the middle, but the ending more than makes up for that! And I wish there had been a bit of heat in the love scenes and that the epilogue had more of their HEA. Overall this was a delightful read and I cannot wait for Pierce’s story!

*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.*