The Lady and Mr. Jones by Alyssa Alexander

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

The Lady and Mr. Jones (A Spy in the Ton, #4)The Lady and Mr. Jones by Alyssa Alexander

Series: A Spy in the Ton, #4

Release Date: November 27, 2017
Tracy’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Mary Elizabeth Francis Catherine Ashdown, Baroness Worthington aka Cat is in a bind, her father has died and though she has inherited the barony and the estates, her father put everything in trust naming her uncle Henri Wycomb (yes, the same one from the previous book) as her guardian and a trustee. Cat is stymied at every turn by her uncle and he is pushing her to marry – in fact he has selected her groom and signed the contracts. If she refuses, she will lose Ashdown Abbey.

But things seem to be going from bad to worse for Cat, she is attacked outside a shop and is saved by Jones. Jones is on a mission that involves her uncle, he had no desire to reveal himself to her, but when she catches him in her uncles study later, he has no choice and they come to an agreement, that he will keep her informed and she will feed him information.

The more they meet, the deeper their bond becomes, but Wycomb is up to something and Cat is not safe. Jones is falling for her, but knows nothing can come of it, yet he can’t seem to walk away from her.

Cat knows she loves Jones, loves him enough to walk away from her legacy – but he won’t let her. When Cat is abducted and Wycomb’s scheme is revealed, will it be too late for Jones to save the woman he loves? And is he finally ready to accept that Cat loves him enough to walk away from her inheritance?

The book is well written, but there are a couple of formal address mistakes and as in the last book it is still being referred to as “Carleton House” instead of Carlton House. The love scenes are on the warm side, but in no way graphic or steamy. Readers who were dismayed with Wycomb in the last book will be overjoyed to see him get his comeuppance in this book and to revisit The Flower, Shadow & Angel as well as their spouses and growing families. The book is action packed and has a bit of mystery that is very well done. The ending was not what I was expecting and personally, I think Cat was overly forgiving, but I was happy with the ending and enjoyed the epilogue.

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

It’s Hard Out Here for a Duke by Maya Rodale

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It's Hard Out Here for a Duke (Keeping Up with the Cavendishes, #4)It’s Hard Out Here for a Duke by Maya Rodale
Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Keeping Up with the Cavendishes, #4

Release Date: November 28, 2017

While I liked this book, I didn’t love it and I was a bit disappointed.

Anyone who has read the previous books has for all intents and purposes, read 75% of this book. I knew before I started this book that James and Meredith had a past and that there was a strong attraction between them. And after the antics of his sisters, I fully expected James to have an equally entertaining book, but that is not how this story played out.

James and Meredith love each other, but are convinced they cannot be together because he is a Duke and she is a commoner. The entire book is them wavering between love and duty. I understood the difficulties they would have if they married, I understood the social ramifications and even the need to protect his sisters by not causing a scandal, but that was the entire book – they are attracted to each other, but he must choose duty over love.

There is a a lot of rehashing the events from the previous books, a lot of longing, some steamy-ish love scenes, a lot of heartache, a little bit of a surprise at the end and finally a HEA. I also found it a bit ironic that while pounding into James head the necessity of knowing formal address – the examples they used were wrong and used incorrect formal address – now to be fair, this was an uncorrected ACR and that may be corrected by publication (fingers crossed). Overall the writing was good, but I felt like this story was already told in the previous books and nothing really new or exciting happened in this story.

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