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Black Raven’s Lady
Black Raven’s Lady by Kathleen Harrington is $1.99! This is the third and final book in the Highland Lairds Trilogy. The heroine boards a ship under “false pretenses” and at first, I was hoping these pretenses were that she was posing as a boy because I’m a sucker for that trope, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. While the book can be read as a standalone, many readers have said they enjoyed it more after reading the other two books in the trilogy. Is anyone else familiar with these books?
This exciting conclusion to the popular Highland Lairds Trilogy features a runaway lass and the laird who will do anything to protect her.
Feisty Lady Raine Cameron has been surrounded her whole life by gossip claiming she is not her father’s daughter. Determined to find her true heritage, the dark-haired beauty boards the Black Raven under false pretenses in search of the man who she believes is her father, a man who is also a traitor to Scotland. Only the Black Raven himself stands in her way…
Laird Keir MacNeil has a reputation for being a ruthless and powerful ship captain. On a mission to apprehend Scotland’s most wanted traitor, he never expected to see Raine on his ship. Keir vows to keep Raine out of harm’s way and return her to her family untarnished. But as his lust for her grows, he must choose between honor and the woman he never expected to desire.
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When a Duke Says I Do
When a Duke Says I Do by Jane Goodger is 99c! This historical romance has marriage arrangements, scandalous affairs, and a hero who’s spent time in an asylum. Readers loved Alex, the “damaged hero” of the story, while some felt the characters were rather one-dimensional in their actions. It’s the first book in the Lords and Ladies series. Anyone read this one?
Miss Elsie Stanhope resided in Nottinghamshire, an area so rich in titled gentlemen, so felicitous for marriage-minded mamas, it was called “the Dukeries.” Indeed, Elsie had been betrothed since childhood to the heir of a dukedom. She had no expectation it would be a love match. Still less that she would enter into a shockingly scandalous affair with an altogether different sort of lover. And the very last thing she imagined was that the mysteries of his birth would be unraveled with as many unforeseen twists and turns as the deepest secrets of her heart.
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Madame Tussaud
Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran is $1.99! This is more of a historical fiction piece than historical romance, but does feature some romantic elements. According to readers, the book does a beautiful job with describing the setting and time period, though some felt the book didn’t spend enough time on the wax sculpting that Madame Tussaud was known for. It has a 3.9-star rating on GR!
The world knows Madame Tussaud as a wax artist extraordinaire…but who was this woman and how did she become one of the most famous sculptresses of all time? In these pages, her tumultuous story comes to life as only Michelle Moran could tell it. The year is 1788, and a revolution is about to begin…
Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American Ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie’s museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, and when word arrives that the royals themselves are coming to see their likenesses, Marie never dreams that the king’s sister will request her presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. Yet when a letter with a gold seal is delivered to her home, Marie knows she cannot refuse—even if it means time away from her beloved Salon and her increasingly dear friend, Henri Charles.
As Marie becomes acquainted with her pupil, Princess Élisabeth, she is taken to meet both Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, who introduce her to the glamorous life at court. From lavish parties with more delicacies than she’s ever seen, to rooms filled with candles lit only once before being discarded, Marie steps into to a world entirely different from her home on the Boulevard du Temple, where people are selling their teeth in order to put food on the table.
Meanwhile, many resent the vast separation between rich and poor. In salons and cafés across Paris, people like Camille Desmoulins, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there’s whispered talk of revolution…Will Marie be able to hold on to both the love of her life and her friendship with the royal family as France approaches civil war? And more importantly, will she be able to fulfill the demands of powerful revolutionaries who ask that she make the death masks of beheaded aristocrats, some of whom she knows?
Spanning five years from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.
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Not Quite a Husband
Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas is $3.99 at most vendors and $3.79 at Amazon and Google:Play! In this historical romance, the hero and heroine were once married, but get the marriage annulled partially due to the heroine’s dreams of becoming a doctor. I’ll be honest, I want to read the crap out of this book. While many praise the writing, a lot of readers couldn’t seem to get over the pure asshattery from the hero. It has a 3.8-star rating on GR, though I’d love to hear some comments from the Bitchery on this one.
Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith’s. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn’t possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India?
Leo has no reason to think Bryony could ever forgive him for the way he treated her, but he won’t rest until he’s delivered an urgent message from her sister—and fulfilled his duty by escorting her safely back to England. But as they risk their lives for each other on the journey home, will the biggest danger be the treacherous war around them—or their rekindling passion?
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Love love love Not Quite a Husband. I have gotten it from the library maybe half a dozen times so perhaps I should just buy it already. Yes, Leo does something really egregious but in the context of the book, well, the way it was forgiven worked for me. The development of Briony as a character, and the relationship between Leo and Briony, are wonderful, but my favorite part might be the epilogue. Anyway, I think Sherry Thomas is a marvelous writer, so I think it’s time to buy this one. 🙂
I just loved “Not Quite A Husband”.
*SPOILER*
Yes, the H cheated via a one night stand while they were engaged. I can understand that this will ruin the book for some. But he is 19, is truly ashamed, vows to go through with the wedding and be faithful, and does. The h learns of the infidelity. Does she kick him to the curb? No. She never lets on that she knows, marries him, makes them both miserable, leaves him, AND NEVER SAYS WHY.
They both have a lot of maturing to do, and that’s the focus of the book. How their older selves can meet again, get past the hurt, and fall in love as adults rather than children. And escape an India in revolt while they’re at it. :=)
Nobody writes searing emotional pain as well as Thomas.
I enjoyed Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud. It was an interesting on other aspects of the French Revolution and what was happening to the those who were in the middle. I enjoyed how the author discussed the wax sculpture process – and the importance to the family of the sculptures – while giving equal balance to the dramatic events happening around them. I always wonder why people in the midst of crisis don’t leave – the family’s reasons for staying are understandable (although sad).
I spelled the h’s name wrong – oops. I just finished a book where the main character was Briony with an I not a Y. (Chime by Franny Billingsley, really entertaining.)
I loved Not Quite a Husband, too, and agree with tealadytoo’s assessment. Excellent read like all of Thomas’s work! I also read Madame Tussaud and thought it was on the light-and-fluffy side for its topic, but entertaining.
I loved Not Quite a Husband as well. It is still one of my favourite romances and is still my favourite by Thomas. I agree with @tealadytoo’s assessmeent. My sympathies were actually initially with Leo because Briony, in my opinion, was acting as a self-righteous fool. The way that Thomas “redeemed” both Leo and Briony was wonderful and I love the epilogue!
Being familiar with Not Quite A Husband made reading The Luckiest Lady in London more interesting, as Sherry Thomas touched on some similar types of marital conflict in both books but with the roles reversed. In the former, Briony refuses to enjoy sex with her husband because of her conflicted emotions. In the latter, it is Felix who withholds his full participation in fear of his own emotional neediness.
I remember reading the first book in Kathleen Harrington’s Highland Lairds Trilogy it is titled The MacLean Groom. I really liked the book but it was several years ago and after a while I gave up waiting for more from the series. Good to know that it was continued but now I need to reread the first one to see if I still feel the same way about it.
!! Apparently SBTB convinced me to buy Not Quite a Husband two years ago and I DIDN’t REALIZE IT. This is like finding $20 in a coat pocket. Yay for new reading that I don’t have to buy. Um, not again, anyway.
Not Quite a Husband is a good book but
*SPOILER*
I had a way harder time with the marital rape than the cheating, to be honest. The heroine doesn’t want to have sex with the hero once they’re married, so he starts having sex with her while she’s sleeping. In the moment, she’s into it, but she tells him during the day several times that she absolutely doesn’t want to do it and that she wants him to stop. The hero refuses to listen to her, so she locks the door to her bedroom. In my opinion, the book seems to think this is a problem more with her than with him. The first time I read this book I had to stop, I was so upset by it. I eventually came back to it years later and it’s a well written book, but I have to pretend that whole thing didn’t happen.
Not Quite a Husband is awesome. It deals with some really tricky themes – but it super-worked in my view. The characters are very real, very flawed yet somehow it has this lyrical quality, like an epic poem. AH-MAY-ZING.
Private arrangements is also 3.79 at Amazon. I think this is Sherry Thomas debut novel? Anyone out there has read it?
@ e, as I recall, Briony did not refuse to have sex with her husband. She simply remained passive and uninvolved during the sex she consented to. He initiated sex while she was sleeping because he wanted a more passionate response. She never told him that she felt violated when he did it, only that it disturbed her sleep (that was the reason she gave him for locking her door). It was still a case of dubious consent, but not as troublesome to me as if she had clearly said no.
@ Margarita, I read Private Arrangements. I thought it was well-written (like all of her novels). The heroine lied and manipulated her husband into marrying her in the past, which led him to live apart from her when he learned what she had done. The story is a second-chance romance.
Not Quite a Husband is amazing! I have the paperback, but seriously thinking of buying the e-book to have it while I travel.
I’ve read Not Quite a Husband and enjoyed it, like I enjoy all of Thomas’s books, however Private Arrangements is still my favorite of hers and I do a reread of it every couple of years.
I, on the other hand, loved “Not Quite a Husband” but did not enjoy “Private Arrangements”. The two books are very similar but my reaction to them was the opposite and I’m still trying to figure out why. I think it’s because I admired the characters more in “Not Quite a Husband”. They were all very flawed but not as self-centered as Gigi & Camden of “Private Arrangements”.
I LOVE Not Quite a Husband and pretty much everything Sherry Thomas writes. I get why not all readers would. Her characters are always deeply flawed, they often make poor choices and the way back to each other is always fraught. That’s what I love best about her books. But it always feels real and the resolution, when it comes, is so, so good.
I loved Not Quite a Husband as much for the story from childhood onwards and backwards – the h’s loneliness, alienation from her father, relationship with her stepmother and sister and last, but by no means least, the H’s fascination with her even when he was little more than a toddler (who can forget the photo, with everyone else face forward but his twisted to gaze at her). And I love the Epilogue, with the fabulous final lines.
Of course, the angst is well delivered. I initially disliked the H for his pre-wedding infidelity and his immediate post-wedding behaviour. I was irritated by the H for marrying him to save her pride, but then making him pay, without divulging the reason. But Thomas redeems them both, which is why this is a very special HR, in my view.
I’m another who absolutely loves Not Quite a Husband — one of my all-time favorite romances. I do get why some of the content could be a barrier for some readers, but I found the growth of the characters to be so beautifully done. The yearning each has for the other is gorgeous, but I love even more how they mirror each other, how they each must revisit the past and see their own part in it anew. And as others have noted, the ending epilogue is just perfect. Then there’s the writing itself . . .