Wednesday 31 August 2011

#158 (#94) The Last Hellion ~ Loretta Chase (Kindle)

The Last Hellion


Read on the Kindle some time ago.  Aide memoire

Vere Mallory Duke of Ainswood and Lydia Grenville, journalist aka Lady G?

I need to write this up, please excuse this for the time being.

#157 (#93) When the Duke Returns ~ Eloisa James

When the Duke Returns



ISBN:  978-0-340-9610-0

5+ star

Simeon  Duke of Cosway has been away exploring the source of the Blue Nile (and other exoctic places) for a very long time.  In the meanwhile he allowed himself to be married by proxy to Lady Isoidore when she was 12 years old.

He's never met her, but decides to return and collect a "stray package" from a houseparty at the notorious Lord Strange's country estate.  That "stray package" is in fact his wife.

He finds a mountain of debts and a huge stink, and having never met his wife it would be expected that they would be hard pressed to make a go of their marriage, let alone anything else.

Kay


#156 (#92) - Slightly Dangerous ~ Mary Balogh *RE-READ

Slightly Dangerous


A re-read that I simply could not put down today - I've been terribly lazy and hung around enjoying the last embers of the school holiday .... actually it gout 5+ from me last time, but probably even better the second time around.

Original post HERE.



#155 (#91) - An Affair Before Christmas ~ Eloisa James

An Affair Before Christmas


ISBN:  978-0-340-96106-3

Miss Poppy (Perdita) Selby met the man she thought she would love forever one magical Christmas in Paris, the Duke of Fletcher.

He was marvellously handsome, rich and in love with her to apparently.

Unfortunately, nobody had prepared Poppy for the marriage bed, and that is where it all went wrong.

Four years later, having been horribly and publicly rude to Poppy he is determined to take a mistress and she is determined to leave him.

Her mother moves in, she moves out and chaos begins.

Another sparkling and refreshing  5+ star read, with a lot of the other "Desparate Duchesses" characters ..... what happend to Miss Charlotte Tatlock .... I can't wait to find out in the coming books....but if you feel inclined to find out Fletch and Poppy you will need to read this.

Kay



Tuesday 30 August 2011

Failed to complete - Wax Fruit ~ Guy McCrone

Wax Fruit: Antimacassar City, the Philistines, the Puritans

A -1 read, I only managed a few chapters ... don't let that stop you giving it a go though.

I can't put my finger on why I got no further - simply did not gel.




Desparate Duchesses Series ~ Eloisa James

The correct running order is:

Desperate Duchesses - READ
An Affair Before Christmas - READ
When The Duke Returnrs - READ (need to write up)
This Duchess of Mine
A Duke of Her Own

#154 (#90) - Desperate Duchesses ~ Eloisa James

Desperate Duchesses



ISBN:  978-0-96103-2

This was a 5+ Star book, such a refreshingly different take and way of telling the story .... I can't express just how much I have enjoyed it.

There a a few character's woven through it, and the various paths that they must thread to find their destinies.

This book features as the main players Lady Roberta St Giles and Damon, Earl of Gryffyn.

Roberta flees her mad father and his mistress, and goes to stay with her 4th cousin Jemma, Duchess of Belmount.  She believes herself madly in love with the Duke of Villiers - a hardened and unprincipled rake - and ask Jemma's help to trap him into marriage.

Jemma's brother. Damon also offers his own brand of help in her Courtship, but will she get or man or find in fact that another suits her better.

Lots of sub-text, chess and sex.  A perfect combination I am happy to report, and I don't even like chess.

Kay

Monday 29 August 2011

#153 (#89) - Lord of Scandal ~ Nicola Cornick

Lord Of Scandal


ISBN: 978-0-263-86586-8


Catherine Fenton is an heiress worth £80,000 and caught in a gilded cage, she is engaged to man she hates and surrounded by a cold and dis-functional family.

Benjamin, Lord Hawksmoor is a rake, scandalous, seductive and a notorious fortune-hunter.

Having kissed the woman of his dreams he will stop at nothing to make her his own, but will Caroline find his as hard to resist as the other women do, and will he rescue her?

A 4 star read, with an enjoyable story line, nothing to irritate or annoy in this tale.

Kay

Friday 26 August 2011

Not bad going - REVISED

I've got one more book on my desk that I need to add, plus another from my Kindle that I finished an age ago and not found the time to write it down.

By my reckoning that should be 154 *EDIT THAT TO 155  158* since I started keeping track last September ... not bad going at all.  I might even be able to squeeze in another read, but am running low on suitable material.  I've just started the Wax Fruits trilogy .... but only a few pages in it's very hard going, so it is debatable if I will stay the course of that one.

I'm pretty sure I have a fair few others to read on my Kindle, and I know my mother has some on hers I've haven't read as well - we inter-change them to read what the other has which is most convenient I think you will find.

Kay

#152 (#88) - Black Sheep ~ Georgette Heyer

Black Sheep


ISBN: 978-0-09-946803-5

Miss Heyer it seems likes the name Miles for a Hero, as this book also has a Miles - this time Miles Calverleigh .... recently returned from India after a couple of decades of banishment.  Apropos of  nothing Miles is also my daughter's choice of name in the future.

Our Heroine is a Miss Abigail Wendover, Abby to most people, as she hates "Abigail" with a vengeance - puts her in mind of maid servants!!

Eight and twenty Miss Wendover has been away for quite a few weeks from her home in Bath leaving her older spinster sister (Selina) in charge of their orphaned niece, Fanny.  Who is a sweet, beguiling and beautiful heiress.

Whilst Abby has been aware another Calverleigh, Stacy, has insinuated himself into Miss Selina's good books, and persuaded Fanny that she is in love with him.  Mr Stacy Calverleigh, younger than his uncle by some years, but the head of the family is a damn loose fish of the first order, and with pockets to let into the bargain.

Reliably informed by her brother that he would never countenance such an alliance, and aware that Fanny can be headstrong, Abby has to untangle the whole mess and get her niece away from the undesirable Stacy Calverleigh unmarried and as heart-whole as possible.

Miles comes to Bath to deliver the son of a friend into the safekeeping of his doting Mama, and happens upon the whole situation quite by accident.  Having never met his nephew, and having no dutiful familiar feelings, will he walk away and leave poor Miss Abby to her own devices?

A 5 star read, again I have read it so many times, but it never gets old.

Kay



#151 ~ The Unknown Ajax

The Unknown AjaxThe Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars












I'm not certain exactly how many times I have read this book before, but certainly 3 or 4 at a conservative estimate ... still a 4 star read though.

Miles Darracott is summoned to the home of his paternal grandfather, Lord Darracott, as due to an tragic accident he is now the heir. He's never met his family as the marriage of his parents was not acknowledged .... in fact Lord Darracott refers to his grandson as that weaver's brat. It seems that the rest of the family were unaware of the existence of Mile, so the whole meeting is going to prove to be dreadful.

The irascible and short-tempered Lord has not made matters any better with the family as he gives the impression that the "weaver's brat" is an uneducated clod who will bring disgrace to the name. He therefore requires his other grandsons to bring him up to snuff, and his grand-daughter Anthea to marry him to keep it in the family.

The unknown offspring arrives, and indeed is is as bad as they feared, Major Miles Darracott has a strong northern accent, and no idea how to go on. Anthea makes it clear from the start she has no intention of marrying him, and everybody else leaves him in no doubt that he hasn't the wit nor breeding to live up to the Darracott name and is most unwelcome.

Throw in a bit of smuggling and you've got the perfect tale .... oh and Miles ... proves them wrong on all levels and gets a full 4 stars.

Buy it at Amazon HERE.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay.

Monday 22 August 2011

#150 ~ Promises Lost

Promises LostPromises Lost by Audrey Howard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars















A 3 Star score for this one, would have been a 3.5 score if it hadn't ended so abruptly - it seems quite a few of Ms Howard's books end that way ... almost as if she can't be bothered to finish them off properly, or she is told to cut them down a bit and goes for the red slash right at the end!

I'm hardly getting anytime to read, and thus even less time to review, so just to remind me this is the story of Sara Hamilton, youngest daughter of a country doctor (he is a gentleman, but has very little money) and Jack Andrews a navy who rescues Sara and her sister Alice from a gang of rough railway workers on the randy.

He gets beaten near to death for his pains, and Sara and her father nurse him back to health. Having fallen love with her he sets off once recovered determined to make something of his life and prove to the Doctor that he is worthy of Sara.

Meanwhile the Doctor dies and leaves his daughters penniless and homeless, and Alice is driven by the need to get her sister away from, as she sees it the lowering influence of Jack. She decides the girls shall go to Liverpool so that he will never be able to find them.

Will the girls find a home, and work, will Jack ever find Sara or will she settle for another man?

Buy it at Amazon HERE.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay

Sunday 14 August 2011

#149 ~ Devil in Winter * RE-READ

The Devil in Winter (The Wallflowers, Book 3)


Book 3 of the Wallflower series

Nothing more to add about this one, as it wasn't that long ago that I actually read it....but Mum had it sitting around so I just fancied dipping back in. For the original post CLICK HERE.

#148 ~ The Convenient Marriage


The Convenient MarriageThe Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars













Actually, this is a re-read (many times over) of one of my favourite authors.

I won't bore you with it, but suffice to say it's a 3.5 star read about 17 year old Honoria Winwood, who offers herself in marriage to Marcus, Earl of Rule (he's in his mid 30's) so that her sister can marry the man she's in love with. It's a convenient agreement, in that Honoria promises not to interfere with what Marcus gets up to ... only problem is they both end up in love!!

There is no way I could go down to 3 stars, so have rounded it up for Amazon and Good Reads.

Buy it from Amazon HERE.

Happy Reading.

Hugs

Kay


Tuesday 2 August 2011

#147 ~ No Man's Mistress

No Man's Mistress (Mistress Trilogy #2)No Man's Mistress by Mary Balogh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars












Mistress Trilolgy #


The Duke's brother, Lord Ferdinand Dudley wins a house in a card game, and hies off to have a look around....stopping only briefly the day before to have a fit of sport at the village fair and a stolen kiss with a country miss.

Unfortunately, when he arrives at his newly acquired property he finds he has a sitting tenant, Viola Thornhill ... who maintains that the deceased Earl of Bamber had left her the property in his will .... she refuses to leave and so does Ferdinand .... who's in the right?

Some nice little funny bits in this one, and a lovely all round story. Too good for 3 stars, so awarded four, but in reality it's a 3.5 star read.

Buy it at Amazon HERE.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay


#146 ~ More than a Mistress

More Than a Mistress (Mistress Trilogy #1)More Than a Mistress by Mary Balogh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars













Mistress Trilogy #1




Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham takes himself a Mistress after she gets him shot in the leg during a duel, but will he come to love the Jane Ingleby or marry Lady Sara Illingsworth? Who is Lady Sara anyway?

A case of mixed or mistaken identify, for this well rounded Regency Romance ... near a 3.5 star read, but have upgraded to 4 as it was better than a three.

Buy it at Amazon HERE.

Happy Reading.

Hugs

Kay








#145 ~ Don't Tempt Me


Don't Tempt Me (Fallen Women #2)Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

My rating: 4 of 5 stars













Fallen Women Series #2



Zoe Lexham, daughter of Lord Lexham, had always been a bolter, but at the age of 12 that was her undoing ... a maid sold her into white slavery in Egypt by convincing everyone that she had simply run away ... and of course, with Zoe's history she was believed.

12 years later Zoe manges to outwit her captives and return to England to her family, however Lucien de Grey, Duke of Marchmont who is a close family friend is determined to prove that she is an imposter.

Although as soon as he sets eyes on her, realises that it is the very same Zoe Octavia that drove him to distraction when he was a young boy.

As you can imagine Zoe's reputation, and thereby her family's is now standing in tatters, and she is being hailed as the "Harem Girl" in the press. Lucien therefore takes on the task of making her respectable and accepted enough to be presented at Court, thanks to his title and friendship with the Royal Family.

He's the most popular bachelor in the Beau Monde, but can he pull it off and remain heart whole?

By at Amazon HERE.

Happy Reading.

Kay


#144 ~ A Lady of His Own

A Lady of His Own (Bastion Club, #3)A Lady of His Own by Stephanie Laurens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars












Bastion Club Series #3



I really don't have any time at the moment, as I'm busy doing a really big stamp order and still have a long way to go ... so this is just a quick rating and brief outline of the characters (more for my own benefit than any one else!).

After years as a spy in France Charles St Austell, Earl of Lostwithiel, returns to London and launches himself on to the marriage mart .... however he is quickly disillusioned by the sweet young misses and their mamas, and hies back off to Cornwall to work on a case for Dalziel.

Before he went into the army he had had spent an unforgettable afternoon with his childhood friend, Lady Penelope Selbourne, which has haunted him ever since.

His return finds Penelope still unmarried, and her mind has told her she wants nothing more to do with him ... her body on the other hand has very different ideas.

Will they get it together? ............ find out in this 4 star read.

Buy it at Amazon HERE.

Happy Reading

Kay