#anna bennett

[autisticarachnid]

The Carraro Sisters - Theodora, Vaia, Anna

- Theodora, eldest, is the mother of Jacob, Cassandra, Thalia and Rhian Dyer.

- Vaia, middle, is the mother of twins Vera and Isla Lyall, as well as Athan and Evanthia Lyall.

- Anna, youngest, is the mother of Samzrael Bennett.

[siriannatan]

Commander Anna Bennett character description sheet and gacha ref mayhaps, please? 👀

~🥜❦

Here's Anna, the no nonsense, overworked commander of Marine Base G3, and Cerberus' new friend. And possibly Hibari's half sister.

I'll probably do a proper backstory for her.

[bookishfreedom]

recent LFL drop off 💓 it was empty so glad I had something to leave!!

[lana0605]

Anna Bennett is now one of my fave historical romance authors

Both books in "Rogues to lovers" series are great. Can't wait for the third one.

[christinaroseandrews]

Kissing Under the Mistletoe is a steamy holiday anthology from St. Martin's press that is a great read for people looking for a sensual holiday read. As I always do, I'll be reviewing the individual stories.

Great Scot! by Suzanne Enoch Lady's companion Jane has resigned herself to a spinster's life. Feeling a third wheel at the MacTaggert family Christmas, she faces a decision. A decision which suddenly has new options when she meets architect and MacTaggert cousin. The one-eyed architect sets her heart racing and her blood pumping. But can she follow her heart? Of should she play it safe?

Set in the same universe with all of the characters from her Wild Wicked Highlander series, this novella focuses on a poor relation of the heroine of the first book of the series, and this story is a great addition to that series. I really liked Jane's dilemma and I appreciated that we got a hero who wasn't perfect. My biggest complaints were the very extreme instalove and the fact that I didn't feel that the novella could stand on its own. Still, I loved the banter and characters and I am a fan of this series. So this story gets:

Four Stars.

Christmas at Dewberry Hollow by Amelia Grey Years ago, Gate's grandfather, the Duke of Notsgrave, stayed at the Dewberry Hollow Inn with his new wife, carving a heart onto a tree in the nearby woods. Now as his grandfather lays dying, Gate races to find the tree so that his grandfather can fulfill a promise to his dead wife. He expects to find a tree. He doesn't expect one of his servants to be shot by the most perfectly enchanting creature he's ever met. Miss Isabelle Reed has long eschewed the idea of love. She's seen what it's done and she wants nothing to do with it. But when Gate appears at her family's inn she begins to change her mind. Can this unlikely pair find the tree and fall in love?

This is a standalone novella, and I feel that it’s the weakest of the stories in this anthology. I found the writing a bit too purple and the stakes really really low. The heat level of this entry is also really low, there's "door ajar" sex but it's not really on the page. I wasn't a fan of how perfect the heroine was and how "Not Like Other Women" she was. Literally, the hero states in an internal monologue that she is "not like other women" and it really landed poorly for me. The story isn't completely horrible, I liked a few of the side characters as well as the idea of the grandson doing this as a favor to his grandfather. This Story would be for fans of sweet romance who want a little more heat with their low stakes sweet. For me, it was too cloying.

Two stars

My Mistletoe Beau by Anna Bennett Determined to retrieve the watch her mother gave her father, Miss Eva Tiding is willing to do anything get it. Even stooping to robbing the scoundrel who tricked the watch away from her father one Jack Hardwick, the Earl of Frostbough. Unfortunately, she's caught in the act by the Earl himself. In return for his silence as well as the watch, she has to agree to be his intended for the next few weeks to placate his grandmother. It's the perfect arrangement. The only problem, falling in love.

This was far and away the best entry in the collection. This is a standalone novella that is utterly charming and lovely and fun. The banter was on point. The romance steamy. The conflict and the tension was there. I was rooting for Jack and Eva. (Which I also appreciated the punny names that weren't overtly punny (no Chris/Kris or Hollys to be seen).)  The plot was engaging and I also really liked the side characters. This novella made me smile and happy and it was the perfect Christmas romance.

Five stars.

In all this was a solid anthology. I liked two of the three entries and the entry that I didn't like was more due to my personal dislikes (I like more conflict and imperfect characters) rather than anything too egregious. This is a fun anthology and it's a great way to get in the mood for Christmas.

So if I average everything together it's 3.67 stars which I'm going to round up.

Four stars.

If this is your jam, you can get it here.

If you like these kind of honest reviews, please consider supporting us here!

I received an ARC of this book via netgalley

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Duke Is But a Dream by Anna Bennett

Debutante Diaries #2

Well written rather unbelievable story of a young woman in disguise losing her memory and being saved by a Duke. With inserts from “The Debutante’s Revenge” - a gossip column – interspersed this story was fun but definitely not in keeping with the era. Why? What parent or sister would leave an unmarried woman alone unchaperoned and not let the household know even if that were a possibility? What woman of the ton would don a disguise, head out to a bar and think it was okay? What Duke would take a street urchin back to his home with his own unmarried sister in the house? What young woman – even with amnesia – would become involved in the physical side of a relationship without knowing who they were or what their prospects might be? All of that aside...if you are looking for a fairy tale and can leave belief behind perhaps you will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley anad St. Martin’s Paperbacks for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41150399-the-duke-is-but-a-dream?from_search=true

BLURB

Once upon a time three young ladies vowed to record their first London seasons…and to fill in the gaps of their finishing school educations. Thus began The Debutante Diaries—and London will never be the same… HE’S COME TO HER RESCUE Miss Lily Hartley is the anonymous mastermind behind the ton’s latest obsession: The Debutante’s Revenge, a titillating advice column for ladies on the marriage mart. To keep her identity secret, Lily delivers her columns disguised as a chimney sweep—which is all well and good, until she unwittingly lands in the middle of an ugly tavern brawl. Fortunately, the devastatingly handsome Duke of Stonebridge sweeps in to rescue her.Unfortunately, Lily’s dressed as a boy—and holding rather incriminating evidence linking her to the scandalous column. Drat. SHE’S LOST HER MEMORY When Eric Nash, Duke of Stonebridge, sees a helpless lad receive a nasty blow to the head, he’s outraged. But when he discovers there’s a beautiful woman hiding beneath the chimney sweep’s cap, he’s positively stunned. Nash would happily escort her home, but she’s forgotten her name—leaving him little choice but to take her in himself until he can locate her family. But the closer he gets to finding them, the more he doesn’t want to let her go. WILL THEY FIND LOVE? Lily’s trying to figure out exactly who she is…in more ways than one. With so much at stake—her column, her reputation, and even her heart—she needs a plan, and she needs it fast. Before Nash finds her family. Before he learns who she is. Before they fall totally, completely, and utterly inconveniently in love.

[churchforatheists]

[pollyssecretlibrary]

“The Rogue Is Back in Town”, by Anna Bennett

I read this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review

RELEASE DATE - JANUARY 2nd

5 STARS/HEARTS/KITTEN/WHATEVER

This is the third and final book in the Wayward Wallflowers series after My Brown-Eyed Earl and I Dared the Duke

By order of his brother, the marquess, Samuel must evict Juliette and her uncle from their home or he will be thrown out to the streets and have his allowances cut off for being a rake and a disgrace. But Juliette is willing to fight for her rights and won’t give up. This is a story of fight at first sight, but she doesn’t know that he’s only the messenger; the ruthless marquess whom she kissed once at a party is the one to blame.

Julie lives with her uncle Alastair who suffers from (I suspect) early stages of senile dementia. She needs proof that Sam’s brother is the actual owner of the house they live in so she demands that the brothers show said proof. In the meanwhile she won’t tell her uncle and be a cause of distraught. Julie is very protective of her uncle, but with her sisters unavailable at the moment, she is very much alone.

Sam realizes that it would be better if Julie and himself worked together for the common good, that they both would have a place to live in. For the time being he asks her to give him shelter for he has nowhere to go. Of course she doesn’t know about this fact so he convinces her to live in the same house. Little does he know that this is the first step to his own reformation. His days as a rogue are over.

So Julie finds a way for Sam to live with them without having brows raised at them, he will be uncle Alastair’s assistant and will help him organize his work in order to present it before the Royal Society of Sciences. It is the work of a lifetime so the task will be neither easy nor short-lived.

Julie and Sam’s brother, Nigel, had that one kiss once, and she felt quite overwhelmed by it, but he never called on her afterwards… how will he react when he knows that he is about to have that woman out on the streets? Her wrath will fall onto him when they meet again! Will Sam get the blow just by standing in the middle of them?

This is also a story of two men wearing masks, the elder brother has a perfect mask and the younger wears the face of a rogue, a rake, someone who you wouldn’t trust at first sights. But the thing with masks is that they hide the real faces, none of them is what they seem. And it will be up to Juliette to describe truth from fake. And the reader will do the same along with her. But probably just as with our lovely, fierce, strong Julie, we will see the truth at first sight, what will be the task then? She and we will have to demonstrate that we were right from the beginning.

Although the year is not over yet I think I can say that this was for me one of the best new historical romance novels of the year. It’s not the best but it comes as close as it can. It is not only an incredibly beautifully written sweet love story between a man and a woman, but also a story about love for what it is important in life, the family. Juliette has a family she wants to protect at all costs; Sam’s family, his only brother, is estranged and severed and he longs to make peace just because he promised his late father, and because he’s alone in the World. This is important because it’s both their strength and their weakness, and unless they consider themselves a family, they won’t be able to create one.

The bed scenes are sweet and sexy but I must remark the almost-first-kiss. It is one of the best and sexiest almost-first-kisses I’ve ever read about; usually they would make me feel frustrated (as one or both the characters would feel) and wanting more, but it left me wanting more though not frustrated. That isn’t an easy thing to achieve. And the other particular thing I must remark is the fact that the male character realizes his feelings earlier than expected and before his female counterpart does, although of course the feelings were there from almost the beginning. But having a man’s feelings so sure and decided so early, when usually he would be confused for many chapters, is something that I find pleasantly refreshing.

Sam was my favourite character. I loved Julie and uncle Alastair very much, don’t get me wrong. But I felt a connection with Sam almost immediately. Perhaps it is because his brother had him kicked out of their home like a dog in the first chapter and from then he begins his path to redemption. But I did love him, and I did want to protect him. He had so much to deal with and it would mean a revisit of his own past and the reasons why he’s a rogue, how did he end up like this. Given that past he should have been careless and cold and hard hearted but instead he’s caring, lovely and supportive to the last breathe, you only have to look at how he helps uncle Alastair in his endeavours when everyone says he’s a madman. And he supports Julie despite the fact that at some point it seems that she’s chosen his brother...

I could go on forever commenting the different things that I liked about this novel but instead I prefer to get myself all of Anna Bennett’s books and read them.

Oh, and there’s one thing, or rather one person I really hated and that was Nigel. I hated him so much that I think he was perfect as a ruthless antagonist/nemesis. So just because of that I should like him but I loathe him instead, and I can’t help it. Aunt Elspeth would approve.