#91 (#27) - The Loveday Pride ~ Kate Tremayne ** NEW AUTHOR**

ISBN: 0-7553-2418-8



A thorough thrilling and fast_moving family drama that left me wanting more of the story>

The Lovedays' are an influential Cornish family, with more than their fair share of trials and tribulations, loves and losses.  With smuggling and feuding twins, Adam and St John, thrown in for good measure.

I stared reading the book above this one in the series (there are more of them before and after it seems), but gave up.  The Parental Control encouraged me to try again with this one, and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed at all, and found it easier to get one with (I'll cover my dislike of the sequel on that review .... it's sitting on my bed to read this afternoon.  Hopefully, now I have a handle on the family it will prove enjoyable).

A 4.5 ***** Star read - not exactly a romance, but it has elements of that in it too.

I think I will start labelling these kind of books as Historical Saga.

Kay

#90 (#26) - The Dark Rose ~ Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Book 2 - Morland Dynasty

ISBN: 978-0-7515-0383-8

This is pretty much the start of the Morland Dynasty books - save for Book 1, "The Foundling" which is the base of the story.

Set in Tudor times around the Court of King Henry VIII it mostly revolves around Nanette Morland - a certain amount of incest as she married her Uncle Paul Morland, but go with it, that kind of thing happened a lot in that time period.

Lots of historical detail about Anne Boleyn and Katherine Parr, plus other Morland clan.

A highly enjoyable, if very long book that takes a bit of reading ..... a 3.5 **** Star read.

Kay

#89 (#25) - The Devil In Winter - Lisa Kleypas

ISBN: 978-0-7499-4290-8

Book 3 in the Wallflower series

I have eagerly anticipated the arrival of this book, and it definitely did not leave me wanting ... well, except perhaps for the final story in the series about Daisy.

Sebastian Lord St Vincent is the most gloriously dangerous and depraved hero I've met thus far ..... and it is unbelievable (but heartwarming) to learn that the lovely Evangeline Jenner with all her innocence and tangled tongue could bring him to heel.

A 5 ***** Star read.

#88 (#24) - Mr Impossible ~ Loretta Chase

ISBN: 0-7499-3711-4

Right, lets just get right to a rating a big fat 5+ *****+ Stars from me - I love, love, love, LOVE Loretta Chase and the story of the Carsington boys.

Who could fail to fall in love with Rupert Carsington .... I couldn't and ultimately neither could Mrs Daphne Pembroke.

It was a set up, of course, but then so were the marriages of Alistair and Darius too.  Only Mr Perfect seemed to find his own lady love.

Lord Hargate is fed up with the amount of money his 5 sons are costing him, so Rupert was dispatched off to Egypt to work for the Consul .... there he is thrown into jail for assisting a beggar.  Simultaneously, Daphne Pembroke's brother is kidnapped and it's suggested that she let Rupert assist her with finding him.

Assist probably seems to strong a word, as she finds him a great lumbering ox with not a brain in his head.  Unlike her .... she has an enormous brain ... .but has had to try and cover it up using her brother as camouflage.

They set out on a journey down the Nile to find her brother .... but they also find each other along the way.

Hop and skip to the book shop to get this one (don't run it will alert others to the fact that they books are really rather, lovely, entertaining, funny and great to read, you don't want anyone getting them before you do!)

By my count I just have one further brother to go, Geoffrey Carsington story but I don't think she has actually written it yet.

There is Last Night's Scandal to read though, which features Olivia Wingate-Carsington the step-daughter of Lord Robert and Peregrine Lisle, his nephew.  I need to score that one soon as reading a Loretta Chase book makes my impossibly happy.

Happy reading.

Kay

#87 (#23) - The Winter Journey ~ Cynthia Harrod Eagles

ISBN: 978-0-7515-2023-1

Book 20 of The Morland Dynasty

The continuing sage of the Morland Family, pretty much with with Charlotte - now the Duchess of Southport - as the pin-wheel.

I thoroughly enjoyed it a 4.5 ***** star read, and I can't wait to track down some more of them to continue the tale.  Hopefully Book 21 will have more of Fanny's story.

#86 (#22) - His Wicked Kiss ~ Gaelen Foley

ISBN: 0-7499-3683-5

This is the last one in the Knight Family series - the missing brother - Captain Black (Lord) Jack Knight.

The first of the Hawkscliffe Harlot's illegitimate children, his father was an Irish Boxing Champion.

Sick to the back teeth with the shame heaped on him by the ton because of his birth, he ends up owning an international shipping and trade company Knight Enterprises, and spends his life pretty much on the ocean wave ...... until one trip down the Orenoco River he comes across the beautiful Eden Farraday in a tree above him collecting orchids.

She's been taken to the jungle by her Botanist father and longs for London Society.  A request to Jack to take her away is turned down, so she stows away on his ship .... soon to be caught by him and made to pay!

I have to say I loved this story, and Jack Knight game very close to Anthony Blake (who is one of my all time favourite heroes).

A 5 star read ****.  What a shame I've now finished the Knight family series.

Happy reading.

Kay

#85 (#21) - Lady of Desire ~ Gaelen Foley

ISBN: 978-0-7499-3654-9

Another in the Knight Family series, this time about the youngest of their clan, Lady Jacinda.

All of her life she has had to bear the whispers that she is almost certainly going to turn out like her scandalous mother, Georgiana the Duchess of Hawkscliffe, dubbed by the ton Hawkscliffe's Harlot.

Fearing Jacinda is going the way of their Mother, her brother Robert arranges a marriage between Jacinda and an older man.  Terrified by the prospect Jacinda fears the same fate as her Mother, and flees only to come face to face with the notorious leader of a London band of thieves, Billy Blade.

He's dangerous, gorgeous and as low as it is possible to get .... but there was just something about him that didn't add up ..... let's just say he was definitely no ordinary kind of criminal and definitely not born into that class.

Obviously she could so easily be ruined, but fortunately Billy has had business dealings with Jacinda's brother Lord Lucien and manages to return her to her family in the nick of time to avoid any scandal.

Faced with the prospect of losing Jacinda .... and the hangman's noose, Billy is persuaded that he should re-claim his old life and his title (Earl of Rackford)  and confront his brutal and tyrannical father, the Marquess Earl of Truro and St Austell.

Having left his old life behind at the age of 10, he has to come to terms with becoming and behaving like a gentleman, the censure and teasing of the ton......can he do it?  Can he win his lady?

A 4 **** Star read.  Highly enjoyable and very well written.

I have another Cynthia Harrod-Eagles next.

#84 (#20) - The Duke ~ Gaelen Foley

ISBN: 0-7499-0767-3

This is actually the first book in the Knight Family Series, and focuses on Robert, Duke of Hawkescliffe.

He's a positive paragon of virtue, everything that a Duke should be, but in love with the wife of somebody else he is drawn into to uncover the truth by her widower, the Earl of Coldfell.

Robert it seems will go to any lengths to get to the truth, even if it means involving himself in scandal and taking a beautiful young courtesan under his protection ........ even more shockingly, under his very roof.

After the wicked nephew of the Earl of Coldfell utterly ruined her life, the young Bell Hamilton was left with the shameful and distasteful choice of becoming a courtesan to attempt to save her Father from the Fleet and gain her own independence.

Robert offers her a short-term contract to live at his home and help him uncover the truth with no sex involved, only the impression of it to others.  He also makes it abundantly clear that he despises women who whore themselves - she will never have a Carte Blanche from him.

To lure Dolph out the pair have to face the fury of the unforgiving ton, and also fight an ever growing attraction.

At the close of the contract they go some way to finding out the truth, but by that time Robert and Bel are in love.  She agrees to carry on as his mistress, but is heart broken some time later to find out that to secure his line and advance his political career he is becoming engaged to the deaf daughter of the Earl of Coldfell.

The only principle Bel has been able to maintain all along is the fact that she would only ever accept the protection of an unmarried man ..... so what does she do?  How does Robert react?..............well, sorry to say you will have to read it to find out, but I am fairly certain you will enjoy this lovely tale.

A 3.5 **** Star read, the only reason it isn't higher is that I fell Ms Foley could have written slightly more of a roller-coaster ending ......it could have been enhanced by a few breath stopping/will he...won't he moments.

I've also just finished the Lady of Desire, which is the story of the only sister in the Knight Family, Jacinda.

Happy reading.

Kay

#83 (#19) - Lord of Ice - Gaelen Foley

ISBN: 0-7499-0769-X

Another in the Knight family series, this time the twin brother of Lord Lucien, Damien the Earl of Winterley.

Damien is a a dangerous and damaged war hero, who gains a young ward following the death of his friend Major Jason Sherbrooke.

Although it turns out that Miranda is not actually that young, she's 19 and in a boarding school in near Birmingham.  She is the illegitimate daughter of Major Sherbrooke' elder brother and his famous actress mistress.  They had both died when Miranda was a small girl in a boating accident.

Jason arrives in  Birmingham too late to go to the school so to kill time he visits a theatre and is knocked sideways by a beautiful young actress, that he must have.  He waits for her outside the threatre, but gets rejected by her after a steamy kiss.  She runs away, but he goes after her just in time to save her from a gang of kidnappers, and she goes on her way leaving him with a heap of dead kidnappers.

Imagine his surprise the next morning when he finds out that beautiful actress is in actual fact his young ward.

Hardly able to take care of himself, how do they go on from there?  Well ......... you'll have to read it too........ a 4 **** star read.

Happy reading.

Kay

#82 (#18) - The Hidden Shore ~ Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

ISBN: 978-0-7515-1934-1

Book 19 in the Morland Dynasty


Continuing the story on from "The Abyss" this time concentrating on Charlotte Meldon, who is relation to Benedict Morland from Book 18.  The story also covers moves the story on for Benedit after he inherits Morland Place from his horrible brother Nicky.

With no family, and kept apart from the world when Charlotte Meldon's father dies, she fears that she will be left destitute and alone.  However, a letter eventually arrives from her father's man of business, where it turns out that this is far from the case....indeed, she inherits a title in her own right and vast wealth.

Eventually she learns to cope with the life-altering facts, of finding out that her mother did not die (as she'd be told since she was a child), and that she has a quite large family.  Being launched on Society she becomes engaged to a Duke's Heir, Oliver Fleetwood, but is shocked to find out at almost the last minute that it is not the love match she thought it.  The only thing she can do is jilt him and get on with her life.

Disillusioned she retreats to her little cottage on the Marsh and gathers her spirits.  Eventually returning to London to work amid the black slums, and will change her life (and those around her) in unexpected ways.

Yet another great book by this author.  They are quite long books, and take a bit of reading .... not in any hard to read way you understand, actually difficult to put down and compelling.  I would highly recommend you give the series a try a 4.5 ***** Star read.

Happy reading.

Kay

#81 (#17) - These Old Shades ~ Georgette Heyer

ISBN: 0-09-946582-5

This is really quick - no need with something this classic to go any further ... I'm not sure how many times I've read it since the age of 12, but lets just say a LOTTTTT!

The Duke of Avon falls in love with his page ..... turns out she's a girl!

A 3.5 **** Star read.  If you haven't read it, please try to .... Miss Heyer is one of our founding Romantic History authors .... classic even.

Happy reading.

Kay

#80 (#16) - Seducing an Angel ~ Mary Balogh

ISBN: 978-0-7499-4296-0

I haven't got much time for saying too much about this one .... actually, not too much to say about it really .... not one of her best - it lacked passion and depth and not up to her usual standard.

Another in the Huxtable family series, this time the younger brother  Stephen, Earl of Merton and the axe-murdering widow Lady Cassandra Padget.

After the mysterious death of her husband, she is cast off without the pension and other provisions that she should have been entitled to, and given to believe that she is lucky that she has not met the hangman's noose.  Desperate therefore, and with her old governess and a unmarried mother cook/housekeeper to also care for she sets out to find a Protector, gate crashes a ball and snares Stephen on the first night of trying.

That single night alters her whole view on ever giving her self body and soul to another man in marriage, and also sets her on the path to undoing the evil self-doubt that being in an abusive relationship had built up .... alll in all a 3 *** star read.

Kay