Category: Tracy’s Reviews

Not A Gentleman by Loreen Augeri

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Tracy's Reviews3 Comments

Not a GentlemanNot a Gentleman by Loreen Augeri
Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Release Date: August 25, 2017

Maybe 3.5 stars.

This was an interesting and unusual story, Juliana Stevenson and her sister Emily are on the run from their evil uncle, convinced he murdered their father and is now trying to sell them into marriage to steal their dowries. Their plan for escape is foiled when Juliana is captured by Nicholas Blackstone. Before he could get Emily, Juliana spooked the horses, giving Emily enough time to get away. She then detains Nicholas by running into the ocean.

Nicholas needs money, he has been in the army for years, but since the death of his father, he has returned home to find his father lost the family fortune and left him with two young siblings and a crumbling manor to take care of. Desperate for funds to repair his home and care for his siblings, so he can return to the army, Nicholas accepts a job to track down the missing Stevenson girls. He doesn’t believe Juliana’s story about her uncle and just wants finish this job, get paid and return to the army.

Both Juliana and Nicholas have scars, both inside and out, and they butt heads constantly, but beneath it all, there is a strong attraction that neither wants to acknowledge. Once Nicholas realizes that he will not be able to track Emily, he decides to take Juliana back to his home and then find Emily. But Juliana has no intention of making it easy for him.

Once they return to the manor, Nicholas informs Juliana that she will be his twin siblings new governess. The twins are as thrilled about this pronouncement as Juliana is, which is to say, not at all and this makes for quite a few amusing scenes. Juliana is still planning on escaping, but her attraction to Nicholas is growing and she needs to make him understand how evil her uncle really is. Not only that, but it seems like someone is out to kill Nicholas and his family.

The story is fast paced with a lot of twists and turns as well as multiple villains, the author does a good job of setting up her story and keeping it flowing, but at times the writing seems a bit jumbled, especially during fight scenes. The sexual tension between Nicholas and Juliana is high and the author doesn’t tease the reader by dragging their attraction out, she writes some steamy love scenes for these two, but she does not make their HEA easy or painless.

I thought this was a good story, but the writing was not quite as smooth as I would have liked and there was more than a little bit of modern verbiage used, which jarred me out of the period. I would be willing to read more from this author and look forward to watching her as she grows and matures into a seasoned writer.

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

To Love a Scandalous Duke by Liana De la Rosa

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

To Love a Scandalous DukeTo Love a Scandalous Duke by Liana De la Rosa
Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Release Date: September 25, 2017

This book was almost perfect and I really enjoyed the story.

Declan Sinclair, The Duke of Darington aka Dec has returned to England after 12 years. He was sent away after his father committed suicide and has been forbidden to return, until now. But this will not be a happy homecoming for Dec, he returns to find his beloved older brother Albert is dead and he is the new Duke.

Dec is determined to find his brother’s murderer and clear his father’s name, but when he reunites with his childhood friends, Lady Alethea Swinton aka Allie and Finlay Swinton, Viscount Firthwell, his single-minded pursuit of justice is in danger of derailment.

This story is not what I expected, I was thinking it was going to be a straight up friends to lovers story and in some senses it was, but it is so much more!

Allie is overjoyed to see Dec again, but she is cautioned by her father The Earl of Rockhaven to stay away from him as he is considered scandalous. Allie seems to crave her father’s acceptance and has only recently returned to England herself – she has been in Scotland for the last three years caring for her mother – when her mother passed away, she stayed on in Scotland, only returning at her father’s request. Her time in Scotland changed her, she is no longer content to be an idle lady of leisure. But she still has a strong desire to make her father happy, which seems to stem from her contentious relationship with her mother. But the pull of Dec is too great to ignore.

As Dec and Allie renew their friendship, Allie learns the reason Dec has returned and offers to help him. Dec is reluctant to draw Allie into his investigation for many reasons, the primary one being, he believes her father is involved. He tries to keep his distance and ignore his growing attraction to her, but like Allie, the attraction is too great to ignore.

The story is gripping and well written, it is packed with surprise revelations, steamy interludes, life altering secrets, ruthless villains and a little heartbreak before finally culminating into a sweet, sigh worthy HEA.

The only reason I didn’t give this five stars is there are some unresolved questions, like why did Dec get sent away and why was he forbidden to return? There are also a couple of minor inconsistencies and period related errors (that may actually be corrected before the publication, this was an ARC) but were glaringly obvious to this reader. But even with these issues, I really enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it and look forward to reading more by this author!

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