Category: Tracy’s Reviews

Enchanting the Duke by Lana Williams

On By TracyIn Christmas, Novella, Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)1 Comment

Enchanting the DukeEnchanting the Duke by Lana Williams

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Seven Curses of London, #11

Release Date: December 17. 2020

Douglas Slade, the Duke of Rothbury has entered into a marriage of convenience with heiress Miss Eleanor Taylor, he needed her fortune and finds her pleasing, but expects that nothing in his well-ordered life will change. He was raised by his grandfather, who drummed into him that the estate always comes first and that his duty is to the dukedom, not himself. He has taken those lessons very seriously, so much so that he is known as the Dour Duke. But what he doesn’t know is that Eleanor has had a tendre for him for quite some time and she hopes that her marriage to Douglas will transform from a business arrangement to a love match.

After a few months of marriage, Eleanor is beginning to lose hope that Douglas will fall in love with her and it has begun to affect her usual cheery personality, she has even heard whispers of people calling her the Dour Duchess. She doesn’t know what to do, Douglas is polite but distant, he barely spends time with her and is always busy with the estate. She is ready to give up when they are invited to a house party at the home of the Duke and Duchess of Burbridge. She is surprised that Douglas agrees to go and hope is rekindled when they have to share a room.

Things are going well and Douglas is actually starting to loosen up a bit, and Eleanor is falling deeper in love. Douglas believes his grandfather might have been wrong and starts to envision a life with Eleanor as his partner – but a conversation with a friend of his father’s reminds him of the consequences of falling in love and causes him to close himself off completely. Eleanor has no idea what changed, but she is heartbroken and decides that she has to give up her dream of a love match. But will Douglas realize his mistake before he loses her forever?

This was a well written, fast-paced novella with really wonderful characters. I just loved this book, Eleanor and Douglas are perfect for each other and I loved watching them come together, the love scenes were a bit spicier than Ms. Williams normally writes (not complaining!) and the conflict was well done and the resolution believable. This is part of a series, but it can read as a standalone with no problems – however, if you have read the entire series, you are in for a real treat as the epilogue features the entire series cast and gives the reader a glimpse into their HEAs!

Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Other, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Her Wicked Marquess (Sinful Wallflowers, #2)Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Sinful Wallflowers, #2

Release Date: December 29, 2020

In an effort to right a wrong, Lady Maryann Fitzwilliam has enlisted her brother Crispin to help her carry out her plan to embarrass her former friend and the reigning belle of the ton, Lady Sophie Wembley. Her plan is simple, she will wait until Sophie comes close to a window in the ballroom and then will have Crispin dump a bucket of grass snakes on her and watch her humiliate herself. But it isn’t Crispin who comes to her aid, a fact she doesn’t learn until after the deed is done. She is horrified and runs away – but soon discovers who her “helper” was – none other than the notorious libertine, Nicolas St. Ives, the Marquess of Rothbury.

Nicolas had his own reasons for being at the ball and for intercepting Crispin. Maryann was never part of his plan, but after meeting her, he is intrigued by her and can’t seem to stop thinking about her. Especially once he learns she plans to use him to ruin her – or at least imply that he ruined her to get out of an arranged marriage. When he overhears her spreading a rumor that he snuck into her room and stole a kiss – he can’t let that slide and proceeds to do just what she accused him of.

But at much as he is captivated by her, he can’t afford to get tangled up with her – at least not until he carries out his plans for revenge on those who hurt someone he loved and cause her to kill herself. He has been setting up his revenge for years and tracking down all the men who were involved in Arianna’s downfall and ultimately her death. He is not positive, but thinks that Maryann’s brother was involved, so that is even more reason for him to stay away – but he just can’t. And as he spends time with her, and begins to fall for her, he knows he will have to make a choice – love or honoring his vow to Arianna’s memory.

This was not a light read and based on the blurb, I was not prepared for a book that was in essence a revenge story – which is not a trope I enjoy. I felt like the book had the potential to be fabulous, but the revenge, inconsistencies, the title errors, and the odd raccoon references (I totally agree with another reviewer who noted this – there were no raccoons in England, so why use them??) – however, the twist at the end of the book was outstanding and the love scenes were smokin’ hot – so the book was not a total miss for me. Overall, the book was not my favorite by this author and it did drag a bit in the middle – but the ending did go a long way into making up for that and as this was an uncorrected arc, I am going to assume inconsistencies and title errors will be corrected before publication (hopefully), so would recommend that you judge for this book for yourself. This is the second book in this series, but they are very loosely connected and are definitely able to be read as stand-alone titles.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher. *