Category: Tracy’s Reviews

Duke of Ruin by Darcy Burke #BlogTour

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

DUKERUIN_RB_BANNERThe Duke of Ruin, an all-new historical standalone from USA Today bestselling author Darcy Burke, is LIVE!

Burke, Darcy- The Duke of Ruin (final) 800 px @ 72 dpi low res

With her betrothal to a duke in tatters and scandal imminent, Diana Kingman has two choices: live in certain ignominy or flee into obscurity. Diana wants solitude. She never wished to wed in the first place. However, her father will stop at nothing to betroth her to one of the finest titles in the realm…no matter how loathsome the bearer. Escape is Diana’s only option, and she’ll pay any price to achieve freedom.

Universally blamed for the death of his wife and unborn child, Simon Hastings doesn’t dispute his guilt over an accident he cannot even remember. He hasn’t had a drink since, nor a moment’s peace. Determined to be a better man, Simon rescues a young woman in need—only to be accused of kidnapping. They must marry to save him from prison. But how can a man haunted by the love he lost and a woman afraid to get too close find happiness together?

Tracy’s Review

The Duke of Ruin (The Untouchables, #8)The Duke of Ruin by Darcy Burke
Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Untouchables, #8

Release Date: March 27, 2018

Simon Hastings, Duke of Romsey (aka Duke of Ruin) is probably one of the most wonderful heroes to ever grace the pages of a romance book. A man with a heart of gold, but overcome with grief, guilt and shame. Two years ago his beloved wife Miriam died along with their unborn child. Most assume that Simon killed her and he makes no move to clear his name, he was drunk at the time and doesn’t remember anything other than holding his love in his arms as she died. Unable to move past the heartbreak and the memories, he avoids the home he shared with his wife and instead travels extensively, never touches alcohol and is very much alone. Simon offers to help his friend Nick (aka the Duke of Ice) break his poorly conceived betrothal to Diana Kingman, so he can marry the woman he loves.

Simon meets with Diana and tells her that Nick is gone and asks her to break the betrothal. Diana can’t do that, her father is a cruel, overbearing man who expects complete obedience from her, he will never let her cry off. Simon offers to take her away, anywhere she wants and help her establish herself anew. Diana is terrified of her father, but longs to be free, she didn’t really want to marry Nick, he was just the means to escape.

As Diana and Simon set off, I was surprised to find myself really liking Diana, she was so cold and aloof in the previous book, that I didn’t know if I would be able to warm up to her, but beneath the cool façade, is a delightful young woman. Diana decides that she will go to her cousin Verity’s home in Lancaster, it is a long trip and gives our lovers plenty of time to get to know each other. They travel incognito as Mr. & Mrs. Byrd and are having a great adventure until they are recognized by a notorious gossip. They continue to her cousin’s home, where Verity convinces them, marriage is the only logical option.

Simon, wants Diana, but he is consumed with guilt, he can’t seem to let go of his past or believe that he can love Diana while Miriam is still in his heart and he vowed to love her (Miriam) for all time. They travel to his home and Diana knows that she loves him, but doesn’t believe that he can love her and she doesn’t want to compete with his lost love. She instead turns her attention to finding out the truth of the night Miriam died.

This is a lovely story of forgiveness, friendship and the power of love, both old and new. There are steamy love scenes, moments of heartbreak, more than one shocking secret, forgiveness, acceptance, snowball fights, awful relatives and an epilogue with a great reunion.

I thought the writing was superb, the story was great and the characters memorable. What I had a hard time with was Simon’s love for his first wife – logically, I know humans have a great capacity for love and can romantically love more than one person, but in my books, I long for the “soulmate” or “love of a lifetime” type of love – I like that he was so steadfast in his affections, but the constant reminders of his previous love grated at me and made me feel like while I believed he loved Diana, Miriam was his soulmate and Diana is and always will be, second best.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by the author*

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About Darcy

Darcy BurkeDarcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations.

Join her reader club at http://www.darcyburke.com/readerclub. A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, two Bengal cats and a third cat named after a fruit.

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The Hellion by Christi Caldwell

On By TracyIn Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Hellion (Wicked Wallflowers, #1)The Hellion by Christi Caldwell
Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Wicked Wallflowers, #1

Release Date: April 3, 2018

I want to start this review by stating that I requested this book because it was touted as the first book in a new series. I would disagree – I did not read the previous Sinful Brides series, but every single person in this book (save one very minor character) is a character from that series – the hero in this book is a “brother” to the previous series heroes and the heroine is the “sister” to the villain in that series. I am all about authors bringing back previous characters for cameos – but this was more like a continuation of that series, so many references are made to prior events that I really didn’t understand the significance of in this book – that said, it is not a bad book – but if you haven’t read Sinful Brides, be prepared to feel a little lost.

Adair Thorne has lost everything to fire twice, first his family when he was a boy and now as he watches the Hell and Sin Club burn. He is filled with rage, the club is everything to him and now it is gone and he knows exactly who is to blame – the Killoran Family. He and his brothers had formed a truce with them and even promised to sponsor one of his sisters for the season – but after this, there is no way they will honor that promise.

Adair and his brothers will rebuild, but first they need to deal with Broderick Killoran. Broderick, his guard and his sister Cleopatra are summoned for a meeting. Thinking it is make arrangements for the season, they willing attend. They are floored that they are being accused of arson and vehemently deny any part in the fire and without proof to back up their accusations, Broderick demands they honor the agreement. Ryker’s wife concurs and plans are made.

Cleopatra aka Cleo, thinks Broderick’s dream of having his sisters marry nobility is stupid, but rather than make one of her sisters sacrifice themselves, she insists on being the one sent.

Adair is assigned to “watch” her and doesn’t trust her at all. This is reiterated over and over and over. Finally he begins to lighten up a bit and the two form a friendship of sorts – she sees the plans for the new club and offers suggestions, which at first he scoffs at, but then begins to see the merits of her suggestions.

When her season starts, she is not interested in any of the Lords paraded before her and she is largely ignored. Adair is the only bright spot in any of the events she attends. She makes a wager with him and they end up alone in the host’s billiard room, they are kissing when Adair hears someone approaching, he goes out the window and the door opens before she can follow him. This is when she meets the Marquess of Landon. He flirts with her and then asks her to dance with him. She is a bit disappointed, she has been waiting to dance for weeks and was hoping Adair would be her first dance. Adair watches from the side of the dance floor and is filled with jealousy.

Later, they meet in his office and dance and then he takes her to the club. They make love and she knows she loves him. She feels the need to honest with him and shares a secret that could destroy any hope of a HEA. Adair is stunned by her revelation and she flees.

Belatedly, he comes to his senses and goes after her, but she is gone. He returns home to find out that she is there and has a caller, Lord Landon. He finds out that Landon asked her to marry him and tells her he loves her and asks her to marry him instead, but before she can answer, Ryder comes in and has information that obliterates any hope of them being together.

This was a well written book, but the first two-thirds of the story dragged and was repetitious, but once she actually starts her “season” the story takes off and is fantastic. It also ends a little abruptly with no setup for the next book in the series – which is another reason this felt more like an installment of the Sinful Brides instead of new series. The love scenes were on the warm side, the ending was dramatic and I really believed the love between Adair and Cleopatra. I would say if you read the Sinful Brides, you will definitely want to read this book and will enjoy it. But speaking for those readers who haven’t read that series, this was not the easiest book to follow, it felt like I was reading a book in the middle of a series and didn’t know the characters.

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