RECOMMENDED: Just Like Heaven is $1.99 right now. This is book 1 of the Smith-Smythe series, a companion series to Quinn's much-loved Bridgerton series. I call these “visiting books,” as there's not a lot of emotional tension, but I like the world and I like the people in it, so I enjoy visiting when I read one. I reviewed this book when it came out and gave it a B-:
I read this book looking for a warm and happy escape into historical land. Nothing tragically wrenching was going to happen. No one was going to go after my heart, rip it out of my chest and flip it around a few times before wrapping it up in a happy ending that would make me half-cry with relief.
I liked this book, yet I am struggling to describe it because I know there are different types of historical readers out there, and this book won’t appeal to everyone. As I said, if you like a lot of meat in your historicals, you’re not going to like this one. Just Like Heaven is a fizzy confection, pleasant and enjoyed in one sitting. If you think about it too much, it goes a bit flat, like mineral water at room temperature. It was warm and pleasant and funny – there are a few scenes where I laughed out loud, provoking odd glances on the train – but not filled with a great deal of turmoil, which lends, I believe, to the airy, pleasant feeling of it. There’s no great, wide gulf of personal risk for the characters, and there’s not a great personal risk to the reader, either.
Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) not in love with her older brother's best friend
D) all of the above
Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) not in love with his best friend's younger sister
D) all of the above
Together they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever and the world's worst musical performance
C) fall quite desperately in love
It's Julia Quinn at her best, so you know the answer is . . . D) all of the above
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Lauren Dane's Never Enough is $1.99 right now. This is contemporary romance, heavy on the erotic, with a semi-secret baby (more like a secret baby daddy) and a rock star hero. This is the fourth book in the Brown siblings series, and has a pile of positive reviews, including a 4.19 star average on GR.
Gillian Forrester spent most of her life running from who and what she came from. Until Miles came along. From the moment she held the tiny newborn her older sister didn't want, Gillian stopped running and began to build a life for herself and her adopted son. Now, thirteen years later, as Gillian's sister lay dying, she reveals the father's identity and makes Gillian promise to find him.
Adrian Brown is the epitome of the successful rock star. He's seen and done it all, with few regrets. It takes a lot to shock him but the bombshell that he has a thirteen-year-old son rocks his world. And Adrian is even more surprised when the buttoned-up, elegant woman who's raising Miles snags his erotic and romantic attention.
The last thing Gillian expected was to find herself getting hot and heavy with a person like Adrian. But as much as she wants to open up and give herself fully to this amazing man, she's afraid the secrets of her past and Adrian's problems with trusting people may keep them apart for good. If love isn't enough can they find the trust they need?
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RECOMMENDED: Tessa Dare's A Night to Surrender is $2.99 right now. This is book 1 of the Spindle Cove series, and the other two books were on sale for quite awhile, so if you're looking to complete the trilogy, here's your chance. Spindle Cove is one of my favorite historical romance series.
Welcome to Spindle Cove, where the ladies with delicate constitutions come for the sea air, and men in their prime are… nowhere to be found. Or are they?
Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there.
Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn't belong here. So far as he can tell, there's nothing in this place but spinsters… and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It's a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram's makeshift army.
Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle… but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?
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Thinking of You by Jill Mansell is $1.99 as a Kindle Daily Deal and the price is being matched elsewhere. This is a contemporary romance featuring an “empty nest” heroine and reviews say it has plenty of emotion and humor.
When Ginny Holland's daughter heads off to university, Ginny is left with a severe case of empty nest syndrome. To make matters worse, the first gorgeous man she's laid eyes on in years has just accused her of shoplifting. So, in need of a bit of company, Ginny decides to advertise for a lodger, but what she gets is lovelorn Laurel.
With Laurel comes her dangerously charming brother, Perry and the offer of a great new job, and things begin looking up…until Ginny realizes that her potential boss is all too familiar. Is it too late for Ginny to set things right after an anything but desirable first impression?
I enjoyed Just Like Heaven. It was a sweet, easy romance without much emotional angst.
I just snapped up the Tessa Dare, and I think I’ll grab the Quinn while I’m at it. I can use some comfort reads. Thanks, Sarah!
LOVED A night To Remember because of the many laugh out loud moments at the beginning, including an Old Spice rife. Never Enough, not so much due to the end. Too much immaturity, not nearly enough grovelling, and no apology at all from one of the people who really needed to bend over and kiss Gillian’s ass as publicly as she threw her under a bus. Sigh. Thank goodness for Brody.
And I nicknamed my bff’s younger daughter bug when she was two days old. She doesn’t care for it much either.