Captivating the Cynical Earl by Catherine Tinley #BlogTour

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Captivating the Cynical Earl

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Captivating the Cynical Earl

The cool, aloof earl

And the enchanting lady

For Jack Beresford, Earl of Hawkenden, emotional entanglements are the path to pain. But when his brother brings his new wife and her best friend to his country home, everything changes. Lady Cecily Thornhill is both vibrant and beautiful, and Jack finds himself increasingly captivated by her sunny nature. Yet he must resist her charms, for in a month she’ll be gone—unless his frozen heart thaws before then…

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Author Bio:

Catherine Tinley is an award winning author of historical romance. She writes witty, heartwarming Regency love stories for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her first book, Waltzing with the Earl, won the Rita Award for Best Historical Romance 2018, while Rags-to-Riches Wife won the RoNA Award for Best Historical Romance 2021.
She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech & language therapy, Sure Start, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now manages a maternity hospital. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, cats, and dog and can be reached at her website ,on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tracy’s Review:

Captivating the Cynical Earl: A Historical Romance award-winning authorCaptivating the Cynical Earl: A Historical Romance award-winning author by Catherine Tinley
Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When Augustus Henry John “Jack” Beresford, the Earl of Hawkenden learned that his younger brother Thomas married a woman he had known for only a month, he was furious and convinced that his brother had been trapped by Miss Eleanor “Nell” Godwin and decides to confront her and demand she leave his brother. But the woman he confronts is not his new sister-in-law, no, it is her best friend Lady Cecily Thornhill, the daughter of the late Earl of Kingswood and ward of the current earl.

Misunderstanding Jack’s purpose, Cecily is appalled by his demands and tells him in no uncertain terms that she will not be complying with his decrees. She doesn’t mention the details of the conversation, but the misunderstanding is pretty quickly worked out after the brothers argue and each refuses to change their plans to visit the earl’s hunting lodge.

Slowly Jack begins to accept that Tom does love Nell, and he feels lost since Tom was the last person Jack felt a bond with and he now thinks that is gone. His experience with love has left him jaded and cynical and as the house party continues and he gets to know Cecily, he has to fight the feelings she is invoking, because he knows love only leads to pain. But when a tragedy leads to a life accounting, he realizes that love is worth the possibility of pain, but will he be able to make amends?

This was a good story, although a little bland, and the author changed her writing style, this book definitely had more of an “Austen” feel than her previous works, and in my opinion, it was not an improvement. I thought the book was interesting and I thought the author did a very good job of believably changing Jack’s POV, she added a bit of humor, heartache, misunderstanding, a stubborn hero, kissing only love scenes, and finally, a HEA that neatly tied up everything. This is a standalone title, but if you are familiar with this author’s backlist, you will recognize Cecily from The Earl’s Runaway Governess.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

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Loved By A Dangerous Duke by Collette Cameron

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Love by a Dangerous Duke (Seductive Scoundrels, book 13)Love by a Dangerous Duke by Collette Cameron
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Seductive Scoundrels #13
Publication Date: 7/20/21
Period: Regency London

I thoroughly enjoy this author’s books. Her characters are always delightful, the writing is excellent, well-paced, and well-delivered, and the witty banter always leaves you wanting more. In this book, we have those delightful characters in the form of Miss Ophelia Breckensole and Stanford Bancroft, the Duke of Asherford. They may seem a most unlikely pair, but it seems opposites really do attract – OR – are they really opposites?

Stanford is known as the Dangerous Duke because of the methods he used to turn the fortunes of his duchy around. He had few options when he inherited the run-down, pockets-to-let title at the age of fourteen. With hard work, courage, determination, and sheer intelligence, he did what most grown men could not – he turned the duchy around and made one of the richest and most powerful ones in the realm. He did all of that by the time he was twenty-five. Many thought he was ruthless, but he had to use the tools at hand and he never, ever, forced anyone to wager. He did, however, expect those who wagered and lost to pay their debts. Strangely, some of those whose debts he collected didn’t think they should be required to pay.

Ophelia Breckensole is a bright light who brings smiles and happiness wherever she goes. She’s good-natured, kind, and loving – and is absolutely aghast when that pompous, cold, hard-hearted, self-centered, dour, Duke of Asherford tells her they should wed. He doesn’t ask her; he just tells her they would suit and then lists all of the reasons she’d make an excellent duchess. He doesn’t even make a rudimentary attempt at wooing. Well – her answer, of course, is a resounding NO! When he persists, she promptly tells him he doesn’t always get what he wants. He just smiles and lets her know that, yes, he does.

When fate decides to step in and lend a hand, Stanford is happy about it – but not happy about it. He’s happy Ophelia will become his Duchess, but he doesn’t want her to feel forced into marrying him. He doesn’t see much choice for her because it is either ruination or marriage – but he still wants her to be able to choose.

It was lovely to watch these two get to know each other and come to love each other. I’m sure Stanford was already in love, he just didn’t know it yet, but Ophelia had always disliked Stanford, so it took a bit for her to have a grand epiphany. As she came to care for him, she realized her heart – “Well, the silly, gullible organ fluttered like an inebriated moth when he directed his full charm toward her.”

I can definitely recommend this book and will probably read it again in a few months. Not only are Ophelia and Stanford delightful, but he had lovely visits with characters from both previous and future books in the series. I hope you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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