Can’t Get Enough of the Duke (The Thunderbolt Club, #2) by Lenora Bell
pub date - 4/7/26
*ward and guardian
*Beauty and the Beast
*marriage of convenience
*grumpy/sunshine
*Annie
*age gap
With an opening chapter that pulled me right in, I dove into this and finished it within a day since I didn’t want to stop reading this.
I enjoyed this historical romance a lot. This was my first time reading the author, and I’m headed to rectify that and read the first title of The Thunderbolt Club.
While I know I was supposed to love her, I despised Nicole. Logan, I adored. Nicole was wildly immature, and intensely unlikeable - I don’t need to always like main characters to enjoy a book, but I despised Nicole; I utterly loathed her and her stupid, fake vocal fry and it did affect my reading enjoyment.
Every other review I’ve seen has been so complimentary, and I’m sorry that mine isn’t as but I wasn’t able to really connect with this one because Nicole was so annoying and I didn’t even have the happiness in reading a lot of character development.
I will read the author’s future work - she’s definitely one to watch and most other readers are sure to love this. Recommended.
I’ve adored much of this series so I was definitely looking forward to this.
Skylar is in long time love with her stepbrother’s best friend who doesn’t view her as anything other than his friend’s little sister.
Enter Robbie, one of the players (in more ways than one) from previous books in the series who wears the o donor shirt and is also a rookie hockey player.
Fake dating commences and in almost no time at all, Skylar stops thinking about anyone other than Robbie.
It’s instalove, and he falls first. She’s obsessed with planners, he’s obsessed with her.
Secondary characters felt thin in this one, and I really didn’t like how Robbie’s character evolution didn’t include an ephiphany on how to treat women other than Skylar.
I look forward to reading future books by Ms Bailey, but this one wasn’t for me.
Huh’s -
chap 18 - “citrine blue” but citrine is a yellow quartz
The Duke and Lady Scandal (Princes of London, #1) by Christy Carlyle
Pub date - 4/1/25
A romantic suspenseful mystery set in Victorian times? In my experience, this could be a hit, or just as easily be a miss…
Well, this was definitely a hit and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read an early copy of The Duke and Lady Scandal because this series starter was fun, Ben and Allie are perfect together, and this is full of swoony moments amid adventure 🙂
The mystery aspect wasn’t fully tied up but I’m hoping this will be revisited in future book.
Aside from my issue, I really adored this one and I’m looking forward to future titles for this series!
I’ve been interested in Sig and Chloe’s story since the first book of this series, and was so happy to get an advance copy and began reading once I got it; I wound up reading this over 3 days.
During reading:
This book, these characters… Tessa Bailey, did you decide to wreck us with the LONGING in this one? Because I’m 24% of the way in, and I’m already ¾ of the way to wrecked.
The we-can’t-be-together energy is seriously present here (although, I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get why they couldn’t be together).
Post reading:
Sig and Chloe are perfect together. Neither is perfect; Ms Bailey always really humanizes her characters and the result is always human characters with good sides and bad, but together they are.
I waited for this one, wanting to read it since readers were first introduced to these two characters in this trilogy? series? Anyway, I’d been looking forward to this one so much, and it didn’t disappoint.
Fun and recommended!
**also, maybe leaves the door open to a future title
Okay, let’s clear some things up - I love reading classics, and Jane Austen is a particular favorite - regarding Pride and Prejudice I despise Lady Catherine, Mrs Bennet, and Lydia, Lizzy infuriates me at times, Wickham is a total cad, Mr Collin’s is a jerk to the nth degree, and I often side eye Darcy and Mrs Bennet as well as her relations. There’s a lot of shitty behavior in P&P, but I digress. However, ah, however, I still absolutely love the story.
I also really love JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction for the uninitiated), and sports romances. Therefore, I was excited to see Puck and Prejudice and when I had the opportunity to read an early copy, I jumped at it. Okay, so it’s not precisely JAFF, but the premise was so appealing that I read it immediately (finishing it the second day I had it).
*time travel
*forced proximity
*marriage of convenience
Perhaps surprising, perhaps not, I enjoyed this - it was a purely fun and amusing read.
This was my first time reading Ms Riley’s work, it won’t be the last.
A happy #pubday to
The Beast Takes a Bride (The Palace of Rogues, #8) by Julie Anne Long
US pub date - 10/22/24
Julie Anne Long is an auto request and auto-buy author for me - I love her books and The Palace of Rogues has been a perfect and enjoyable series, with each book full of longing, wit, character evolution, emotion, and a swoon worthy love story that slowly unfolds during reading.
Avon made my dreams come true and approved my request for The Beast Takes a Bride, and, able to revisit the world of The Palace of Rogues and the terrific cast of regular characters in each (Dot and Mr Pike need to happen). I ignored my other books and read this over two and a half days with a happy smile on my face.
Estranged since the night of their wedding, Magnus and Alexandra have been apart for five years, when her actions prompt an in-person response by her husband.
*troubled marriage
*forced proximity
*yearning and longing
*second chance romance
I loved Magnus and Alexandra and their second chance while staying at the Grand Palace on the Thames. It was a very very enjoyable installment of this wonderful series and I’m specifically thankful for this eARC, as this is one of my favorite series.
The author’s writing just gets better and better - the characters are fleshed out, the stories flow easily, with the plots such that the reader is defintely invested in the outcome.
If you enjoy historical romance and haven’t read Julie Anne Long’s books yet, please allow me to strongly recommend them 😍
