#annabelleanders

[darlenefblog]

The Love Bus 

by Annabelle Anders

A 4 star review

Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 26, 2025

Publisher: In For A Penny

Print length ‏ : ‎ 540 pages

Book blurb:

I found out my fiancé was cheating—while we’re on live TV.

To get out of town I hop on a plane, and just my luck, we hit epic turbulence--so epic that I grab Hot-Aisle-Seat-Guy like these are our final moments alive. “Just breathe,” he says. But that's easier said than done. Because his voice is the perfect kind of grumbly, and his face… let’s just say I’m not looking out the window anymore. After my melt down, I console myself with the fact that I’ll never see him again. Right? Wrong. Fate has put us both (grudgingly) on the same Southwest bus tour, surrounded by a pack of tech-challenged retirees who treat smartphones and i-pads like loaded weapons. And yet… somewhere between letting go of the past, exploring majestic canyons, and yeah, Hot-Aisle-Seat-Guy, my “avoid men” plan is slowly turning into a “trust the broody doctor” plan. Maybe I didn’t board this bus to fall in love… but suddenly, I can’t imagine going home without him.

My Review:

I empathize with the bucket list group tour. I've done it and let me tell you this bus trip is a miracle and exactly what you'd expect and want. It's older people having a good time, seeing the landmarks of the American West, taking a winery tour and having too much to drink before the last stop for dinner. That scene was a hoot. The youngest person on the tour was the bus driver, poor guy. My only con is it got a bit slow in the middle.

Now we get to the main characters, Luna and Noah. Their meet cute isn't romantic at all, it's the opposite. Our male lead is a good looking burned out ER doctor who's agreed to accompany his mother on the trip. He's unhappy at work and considering leaving but to go where? Even at a crossroad in his life he's handy to have around, his skills never go to waste. He becomes interested first because out main lady is trying to recover from a shock of epic proportions.

Luna is a complicated character to explain without giving too much away. She's one half of a successful social media cooking show. A sous chef by day she started small doing reels for fun and it took off. Her head chef fiancé pulled a nasty move and got romantically involved with an assistant on the show. Luna found out about it while on-air and it got nasty and messy - for public consumption. Luna takes her mothers place on the tour, not in a good mood at all. Sitting across the aisle from Noah starts off the chain of events that leads to a lovely HEA.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions express in this review are completely my own.

[darlenefblog]

Sweet Duke of Mine 

by Annabelle Anders

Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 14, 2025

In For A Penny Publishing

Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages

A 3 star review

"He doesn’t know his name. He doesn’t know why he’s here. But he knows her.

Waking up in an unfamiliar place, battered and bruised, the man once known as the heir to the Duke of Lovington has no memory of who he is or the life he left behind. Yet, in the gentle hands of the woman tending to him, he feels a pull—something deep, something important. She tells him he is safe. But she won’t tell him everything.

Daisy Montgomery never expected fate to bring him back into her life—not like this. The boy she once loved is now a man with no recollection of the past that tore them apart. And as she nurses him back to health, she knows it’s only a matter of time before he remembers. Before the truth unravels. Before she loses him all over again. But what if, just this once, love could rewrite the past?

Sweet Duke of Mine was originally published in 2023 as part of the I Like Big Dukes anthology. "

A second chance romance with a slight twist. The hero can't remember who he is. Alistair is a sweet naive boy who grows into a fairly nice man in the ten years our couple have been apart. Daisy is the daughter of a farmer on his family's country estate. Of course they have to sneak around but Alistair thinks he can get approval from his father to marry Daisy, this is where he's not realistic. Daisy knows better but wants to be with her love until the last minute when he has to leave her behind. Why and how they find each other again is a part of the plot that's not in the book blurb and I'll leave it alone for this review.

I don't think this was the author's best work. Some of the dialog struck me as too modern and I think Daisys family dynamics might have been explored a bit more, it bothered me that her lifestyle wasn't woeful enough. It's not a very long read so I finished it in two evenings.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[bucolicbook]

Hot Duke Summer: Regency Historical Romance Anthology by Scarlett Scott, Alexa Aston, Annabelle Anders, Meara Platt, Kathleen Ayers, Chastity Bowlin, Sara Adrien, Jude Knight 

US pub date - 8/24/24

The Duchess Bride - Scarlett Scott 

*character called Buttercup ✔️

*character named Westley ✔️

*masked, yet familiar, man kidnaps MFC to save her from a miserable marriage not to a Prince Humperdinck but to a Humberton  ✔️

Dilemma over a Duke - Alexa Aston 

*MFC decides on a marriage of convenience to a friend ✔️

*childhood friend / crush (her betrothed’s brother, oops) returns from war ✔️

The Duke’s Day Off - Annabelle Anders 

*titled man falls for his mother’s long suffering amanuensis / companion ✔️

*Memento Mori leads to love? ✔️

The Moonstone Mermaid - Meara Platt 

*injured soldier and duke falls for the woman he ‘accidentally’ spies on while she’s swimming ✔️

Say Anything, Duke - Kathleen Ayers

*accident prone MFC ✔️

*MFC’s mother = 🤬🤬🤬✔️

I Know this Much is True - Chastity Bowlin 

*insta insta love ✔️

Love is the Duke’s Best Remedy - Sara Adrien

*My Fair Lady / Pretty Woman vibes ✔️

The Worth of an Earl - Jude Knight 

*reverse Aladdin 

Anthologies are an excellent way to discover new-to-me authors or read shorter offerings from favorites and I found this one to be a very enjoyable read 🙂

Thank you to Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC

Hot Duke Summer: Regency Historical Romance Anthology by Scarlett Scott, Alexa Aston, Annabelle Anders, Meara Platt, Kathleen Ayers, Chastit

[darlenefblog]

Bond Street Bachelor (The Rakes of Rotten Row #5) by  Annabelle Anders 

Thank you to Annabelle Anders and In For A Penny Publishing for sending this Advance Reader Copy (ARC). I'm giving an honest review of the book, all opinions are my own.

Publication date: ‎ August 8, 2024 Print length: ‎ 312 pages "Bond Street Bachelor is the fifth book in the Rakes of Rotten Row Series but can be read in any order, or as a stand-alone novel."

I think Leopold and Amelia may be my favorite couple in the Rakes of Rotten Row series. This is an opposite attracts tale with two people who never, ever would have met. The first time our male lead sees the female lead they were both at a party (he wasn't invited), he hid in the shadows and she looked right through him. I found Leopold to be the most layered fleshed out character while Amelia was more typical Ton young lady. The plot had me invested from page one and it moved at a nice pace. We get to check in on a few the previous couples with a small appearance by a couple of them as the story progresses.

Leopold isn't a typical bad guy character in that he has standards to his illicit business. No drugs or human trafficking, only goods and information. He takes care of the people who work for him and has made sure people from his past who want to work have a place in his organization. That he threw in with the Rotten Rakes to see a truly bad man delt with shows that he's nicer than he lets on. He tells himself the plan is just good business on his part. Self-made man, survived his horrid childhood, and with the help of a "mentor" thrived and became a criminal kingpin. He's handsome with enough scars to make him appear a bit dangerous; even though he dresses well you can tell he didn't go to Eaton. He's got plenty of attitude.

Amelia is a typical titled young lady who has to marry well and is silently screaming on the inside. Beautiful, intelligent, kind, and doesn't appear to be spoiled to death. Her parents pushed for an arrangement with a Marquess who ran off with her cousin. Of course, it's Amelias fault and now she has to marry a man her parents have been negotiating with to take her off their hands. Soiled goods even though she was an innocent victim in the whole mess. She becomes interesting when she's kidnapped and has an opportunity to let loose and find out who she is and what she wants for herself. Amelia called Leopold Mr. Beckworth through the story, inner dialog also, it was cute and kind of hot when they were up to no good.

An enjoyable read and I'm waiting on the next story, the Duke of Malum. How he's redeemed is going to be a chore to figure out.

[thewistfulwordwitch]

New #review #WallflowersChristmasWish (complete series set) by #TammyAndresen and #AnnabelleAnders This series was a sweet, fun, little holiday romp. It's pretty typical for the genre, a few steamy scenes, whirlwind romances in which everyone falls in love at first sight, whether they're willing to admit it to themselves or not, and HEAs for everyone involved. I got a tad bored with rereading some of the repeated scenes in each book and it probably could have been done a bit more cohesively if it had been all in one bigger book rather than split into 3 smaller ones, but the sisters' stories were as delectable as the treats they made. I liked that the recipes were included as . . . . . #goodreads #Amazon #Bookbub #bookreview #iheartbooks #readingisfundamental #kindle #book #books #readallthebooks #booklover #bookworm #bookwrym #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookslover #read #reading #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #readyourbooks #readabook #authorsofinstagram #booksarelife https://www.instagram.com/p/CX8klHBsMCg/?utm_medium=tumblr