Category: Tracy’s Reviews

Ten Things I Hate About The Duke by Loretta Chase

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

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke (Difficult Dukes, #2)Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Difficult Dukes, #2

Release Date: December 1, 2020

After a confrontation with Mr. Titus Owsley, a member of the House of Commons, Miss Cassandra Pomfret’s father lays down the law – he forbids Cassandra’s younger sister Hyacinth to marry or even participate in a season until the outspoken, opinionated Cassandra is wed.

Needing to get away, Cassandra sets out with her groom and maid to visit her former governess, but she never anticipated that the recently jilted Lucius Beckingham, the Duke of Ashmont would be at the coaching inn getting drunk after dueling with the Duke of Ripley, his former best friend turned bride thief! Nor did she think he would try to quiet a restless crowd by shooting into the air and spooking her horse, causing an accident that injured her groom and threatened to ruin her reputation. Nor did she ever expect or want him to insist that she marry him!

Cassandrea will never admit it – but Lucius was her first love and her hero, but over the years she realized that he never noticed her and she closed off her heart. She is content to be a spinster and refuses to wed Lucius, but when they are caught alone together a second time, she hatches a plan, she still won’t marry him but does agree to pretend to agree to marry him – especially since it seems her father is willing to let Hyacinth attend events with them. But she is clear – she can’t trust him and will not marry him.

No one is more surprised than Ashmont when he realizes that he really wants to marry Cassandra and sets out to win her over. It will be a long, uphill battle to win her hand with more than one person set on keeping them apart. But this is a battle Ashmont intends to win and soon winning her hand is not enough, he wants more – he wants to win her heart!

This was a well written, fast paced, fun twist on The Taming of the Shrew. Cassandra and Ashmont are perfect for each other and provide the reader with lots of witty banter and amusing moments without dragging the story into the realm of silly or fluffy. The book has humor, betrayals, great secondary characters, more than one “villain”, warm love scenes, blackmail and a very, very sweet ending. This is the second book in the series, but it can certainly be read as a standalone title. I really loved this book and happily recommend this title!

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

The Maiden and THe Mercenary by Nicole Locke #BlogTour #Giveaway

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Medieval (1066-1540), Middle Ages / Medieval (476-1454), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Maiden and the Mercenary

 

The Maiden Cover

The Maiden and the Mercenary

Keep your friends close…
But your enemies closer?
In order to find a legendary treasure map, mercenary Louve of Mei Solis must infiltrate his enemy’s fortress under the guise of a servant. There, Louve meets beautiful maiden Biedeluue, a fellow servant with her own hidden agenda…to save her sister from the malevolent Lord’s clutches! Their high-stakes missions may be at odds with one other, but their attraction cannot be denied even in this most dangerous of situations…

Purchase Links
UK – US 

 

The Maiden -Nicole Locke1a

Author Bio:

Nicole first discovered romance novels hidden in her grandmother’s closet. Convinced that hidden books must be better, Nicole greedily read them. It was only natural she should start writing them (but now not so secretly).

Social Media Links:

Website ~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

 

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Giveaway: 

Giveaway to Win a £20 / $20 Amazon Gift Card (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Tracy’s Review:

 

The Maiden and the MercenaryThe Maiden and the Mercenary by Nicole Locke

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Lovers and Legends, #10

Release Date: December 1, 2020

When we last saw Louve of Mei Solis, he had resigned his position as Usher to Nicholas and had joined Reynold of Warstone as a mercenary. And now he has been sent on a new mission – invade the holding of Reynold’s brother, Ian and find the parchment pertaining to the fabled Jewell of Kings. In addition to his mission, he has been tasked with protecting Reynold’s youngest brother – Balthus – who has recently reconciled with Reynold. Louve knows that dealing with the Warstones is tricky – they are a complex, deadly group who play games with peoples lives and seemingly have no consciences. He convinces Balthus to stay in hiding, while he enters the fortress and hopefully secures work. As luck would have it, the steward hires him on the spot and then bolts – leaving Louve to deal with a drunken free for all in the kitchens.

Biedeluue “Bied” is at the fortress to rescue her sister Margery, who is Ian’s mistress. She is trying to find a way to see her and after two weeks, has had no luck. She first meets Louve when he comes upon her and another servant in the middle of a drinking game. She can’t believe how handsome he is and even in her drunken state, knows that he is not who or what he claims to be.

She is drawn to him and he to her, but neither trusts easily and when in the company of Warstones, one cannot afford to lose focus. Ian soon makes it clear that he is on to both Louve and Bied and pulls them into his game and to complicate things even more, Balthus “arrives” with his evil parents. Now, not only does Louve have to complete his mission, but he also has to protect Balthus from his family and the woman he loves from becoming a pawn in Ian’s games.

This was a very complex and at times mystifying story. It is well written, but it is really not a story you can skim or read quickly there is A LOT going on and it is not always easy to keep track of who is the bad guy – the Warstones are a truly evil family – think the Borgias – and the brothers have been set against each other since birth – but at times you can’t help but feel sorry for them. I did enjoy the inactions between Louve and Bied, their banter was fun and their love scenes bordered on spicy. In addition to that, this book has murder, secrets, lies, betrayal, poison, villains galore, warm love scenes and a well deserved HEA. This is the 10th book in the series and I would recommend reading the books in order.

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