Review – Duke of Desire (A Maiden Lane Novel) by Elizabeth Hoyt

A LADY OF LIGHT

Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him . . . only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.

A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS

Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.

CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER . . . AND DESIRE

Much to Raphael’s irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involves herself in his life-and bed. Soon he’s drawn both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael’s past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael’s own demons?

Duke of Desire is the last full-length novel in the Maiden Lane series by Hoyt it is a shame that this series is ending, as Maiden Lane has always caught your attention and ignited your imagination whether that be the spectacular plots to the character’s it’s been a fun and sexy series that will not be forgotten and, one that will be read and re-read repeatedly. I have been really looking forward to Raphael’s story since we met him in the previous book and he is just as enticing and intriguing as I had imagined him to be.

Iris Daniels is kidnapped by the notorious Lords of Chaos which is an evil gang of powerful aristocrats who take absolute pleasure in sadistic rape of innocent women and children. They are the evilest bunch of people who I have come across in a book, and it is a testament to Hoyt’s writing skill that you can hate a bunch of people like you can these horrid men. They have taken Iris thinking that she is the new Duchess of Kyle, so they can have their wicked and evil way with her, on finding that they have the wrong women they want rid of her. So, after a bit of growling and scuffling between the Wolf and the Fox – you’ll understand once you’ve read it – the large, powerful Wolf wins and takes her off to – as they instruct – get rid of her.

The Wolf bent over his prey, both men panting, their naked bodies sweating. The snout of the Wolf mask pressed against the Fox’s vulnerable bent neck. “Don’t. Touch. What. Is. Mine.”…
….“Mine,” growled the Wolf…..

Things take an unexpected turn as Iris isn’t going to stand back and be raped and killed, she finds a gun and shoots her capture; the Wolf. Only for the Wolf turn to out to be the very man she had danced with a matter of months before, the man who very well could be the devil himself; the dark and dangerous Duke of Dyemore, Raphael de Chartes. What Iris doesn’t know is that Raphael is actual undercover trying to infiltrate the gang to destroy them and he isn’t going to hurt her.

With a seriously wounded Raphael and the blood thirsty club still hovering around in the shadows, Raphael knows that Iris still isn’t safe – she knows too much about them and that means she is a threat to them. The only way that Raphael can assure her safety is for her to be under his protection, to have the protection of his name. That means they must marry!

His voice was deep. Calm. Certain. “I would much prefer that you live with me. Always.”
“As would I.” Her smile widened in genuine happiness. Suddenly she felt much more sure of herself….

Let’s just say that neither of them are looking forward to what must be done, Raphael has serious issues that he really can’t have a woman – or wife around to witness or to get in the way as he gets closer and closer to self-destruct. Iris simply cannot believe that once again she is stuck in a loveless marriage, and with none other than one of the most feared and mysterious men in society.

It’s as Iris is taking care of him, as he battles to survive that she begins to see the man behind the mask and realises just how much he needs a woman and someone to love him, but can she? Can she really go on in this farce of a marriage without the prospect of the thing that she so desperately wants; children! Until the threat to both their lives has been dealt with, she just has to go on as she is, because as much as Raphael has done to protect her, it’s not long before the Lords turn up and find out that she is alive.

Can Raphael in his severely ill state protect her from, not the blood hungry club but from his own self-destruction? And will Iris be able to show Raphael that he is a good man and that they could be happy if he let her in to his heart.

I have always liked flawed heroes, they are far more interesting, and Raphael is just that. He comes across as being callous and harsh and a beast, but he isn’t any of those things he is a man in serious pain. He has been through so much, as a child he experienced things that no adult should, let alone an innocent child. That cruelty and abuse that he had to endure, has really taken its toll on him, it has created the man he is now.

….Dyemore was no beast. No Bluebeard. No fairy-tale nightmare. He was a man— a man in pain….

Raphael and Iris’ relationship is sweet and tender especially as they get to know one another, when she finds out about Raphael’s sad childhood, she becomes more and more drawn to him and their budding romance begins to blossom and form into solid thing. Yet, as much I really like them as individuals – and I really like Raphael he is a flawed and intriguing man who I instantly felt drawn to – I don’t feel the same buzz that I do from all the other Maiden Lane couple’s. The sexual chemistry and everything you would want from a couple who has been put into the position that Raphael and Iris is there, between them and yet for me at times I felt they didn’t work. As friends they are perfect, they each support the other when needed.

Hoyt has a knack of bring together the most different individuals, these are people who in any ordinary circumstances wouldn’t normally have even been in the same room as one another and yet in Maiden Lane everything goes. I have always liked how Hoyt brings the secondary characters to life and this is no different, for the real winner with this is the relationship Raphael has with his own Corsican guards. He treats them like the family he never really had, and the way they do his bidding without a single word of complaint shows how loyal and how much they think of him and that for me says a lot about the mysterious man.

As always with Hoyt’s book the plot is intricately woven with danger and romance, this is another real winner, Raphael is the glue that holds it together and I can highly recommend it.

This was an ARC copy via the author in exchange for an honest review.

Duke of Desire is out now and can be found at Amazon.

Advertisements

Review – Her Christmas Knight (Lovers and Legends Series #6) by Nicole Locke

A knight to protect her—this Yuletide By order of the English king, Alice of Swaffham searches London nobility for the traitor dealing information to the Scots. Little does she know that the mysterious spy she seeks is the man she once loved and thought she’d lost forever…

If Hugh of Shoebury felt unworthy of Alice before, as the Half-Thistle spy he can never claim her heart. Now he must fight to keep not only his dark secrets—and Alice—safe from a vengeful king…but also his burning longing for her at bay!

This is the next instalment of Nicole Locke’s enchanting “Lovers and Legends” Series, this is a terrific addition and Locke doesn’t disappoint Her Christmas Knight is empowering and romantic with a darker undercurrent. I’ve said it before, but I do love a Medieval Romance I find that this era and Locke’s work is raw and highly romantic.

Medieval Romance takes you to a brutal time where the men were real, harsh and untamed men and the women were just as strong, maybe not treated very well but they worked even harder to get what they wanted. That’s I really like about this era, romance its always very gritty and raw.

Why had he danced with Alice? It could never be simply a dance with her. Stupid to think otherwise, but he’d been consumed with jealousy. He’d had no right, and yet he’d taken it….

Hugh of Shoebury is charged by King Edward to go back to his childhood home of Swartham to spy on the villager’s, the Fenton family particularly, specifically Alice. Which is all good as this isn’t anything knew to him but the thing is, Hugh has a secret, a deadly secret that only he knows and one that could get him killed for treason if anyone find’s out, because in the eyes of the King he is doing just that by keeping this secret; he is committing treason. It’s all for a good cause, he is protecting the life of his best friend and mentor; Robert the black who after faking his own death moved marriage a Scottish Lass and Hugh is the only person who knows the truth. But, by taking on this assignment from the King, Hugh finds that his secret could very much be found out

Alice of Swartham while in London got pressured into playing a game, which should have been just a bit of fun but she soon finds out that it wasn’t just regular childish game but a task that was set by the King. Alice being the only one to finish this game is then in a combination of being threatened and pressured, accepts an assignment by King Edward to find the traitor who is passing information to the Kings enemies’ and who is hiding within her sleepy village of Swartham. The traitor has a seal; the Half Thistle that belongs to the King himself and is using it to correspond with Scots and outlaws and Alice needs find that seal and hand over the traitor.

Alice at first comes across as a naive, stubborn young girl who is set in her ways. She is also very caring, hugely likable and highly protective of her family which is why she is doing this duty for the King. When she finds that Hugh is back she has mixed feelings about his return, Alice has always held a torch for Hugh, ever since she was a young girl – but then again it isn’t surprising because is quite a man who would capture any young girl and woman’s heart. Alice was infatuated with him, that is until he broke her heart in a rebuke that put her off men for life, she has sworn that she hates him and yet, she still holds tightly on to that vow that she made as a child, a vow that he was the only man for her.

But she wouldn’t give up—she’d made a vow.
‘‘But don’t you see?’’ she said. ‘‘There wasn’t a reason to stop your kiss that day. I never saw you as you saw yourself. Like you do now. I only saw your strength, courage, perseverance. That was the man I wanted. The man I vowed to marry.’’
‘‘You saw me wrong. You keep seeing me wrong.”

When Hugh find’s out what the King has made Alice do, how he has put her into such danger. Hugh is fuming, not just the fact that the King has got an innocent woman to do a man’s job, but the fact that this could get her killed and as much as Hugh act’s the callous, unfeeling brute, he genuinely cares for her. He always has done! But there is the fact that her search is getting too close for comfort, so he decides to “help” her with her mission.

Hugh may come as a manipulative and callous brute, that only cares about himself, but that is only a mask, a mask that he has hid behind since childhood. Really, he is a kind, generous and valiant man who has seen too many hardships and experienced too much pain in his life, I have always liked flawed heroes and Hugh is perfect. He makes you want to wrap your arms around him and tell him that you will always be there for him, no matter what. He hasn’t had a lot of kindness showed to him, mainly because of his parentage the only person that was really kind to him was Alice, even as a young girl she had a light and caring nature that instantly drew away Hugh’s darkness that circulates him like a predator.

I really like their relationship, right from the beginning when she has vowed that she will hate him and she want’s nothing to do with him and Hugh believes he is destined to be alone, there is a real buzz around them whenever they are in the same scene. Their love/hate romance is intoxicating and sweet and you are urging them on and at times you want to bang their heads together.

This moment right now was what she had dreamed of all those years ago when she’d demanded that Hugh kiss her. She didn’t want only his kiss—she wanted his love….

Now, King Edward is a shrewd, malicious man who takes pleasure in toying with both Alice and Hugh. He is a manipulator who preyed on Alice’s good nature, on her love of her family by threatening them and coercing her into doing what he wanted her to do. Just as with Hugh, he seems to be able to read their minds and know their deepest fears and darkest secrets and he plays on that, Kind Edward is one nasty piece of work and Locke has done an unbelievable job at capturing his manipulative and malicious side.

As always Locke sprinkles her own unique magic over this and creates a thoughtful, thrilling and at times, heart wrenching story of finding love in the most dangerous times. Locke has handled Hugh’s past with sensitivity and respect and out of all that darkness and grief she has made Hugh in to the great man he is, and the same can be said for Alice. I have always thought that Locke excels at writing heroines, her ladies are always as strong as the men, they know their own minds and always put their brains to good use.

Another enchanting and romantic Christmas story, which I absolutely recommend. It’s just so good!

This was a ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Her Christmas Knight is out 1st November and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

New Review – Angel comes to the Devils Keep by Regina Jeffers

Huntington McLaughlin, the Marquess of Malvern, wakes in a farmhouse, after a head injury, being tended by an ethereal “angel,” who claims to be his wife. However, reality is often deceptive, and Angelica Lovelace is far from innocent in Hunt’s difficulties. Yet, there is something about the woman that calls to him as no other ever has. When she attends his mother’s annual summer house party, their lives are intertwined in a series of mistaken identities, assaults, kidnappings, overlapping relations, and murders, which will either bring them together forever or tear them irretrievably apart.

As Hunt attempts to right his world from problems caused by the head injury that has robbed him of parts of his memory, his best friend, the Earl of Remmington, makes it clear that he intends to claim Angelica as his wife. Hunt must decide whether to permit her to align herself with the earldom or claim the only woman who stirs his heart—and if he does the latter, can he still serve the dukedom with a hoydenish American heiress at his side

Firstly, what a fabulous book! I haven’t read any of Ms Jeffers work before, but I have been an avid follower of her highly interesting and educational blog, so even before I read this, I knew that I would be in store for something good. But this is really something special, its exciting and equally enchanting, the story line of destiny has brought Hunt and Angelica together through the most difficult things people could experience, really pulls at the heartstrings.

Huntington McLaughlin isn’t no ordinary Marquess, he is a secret agent for the crown. He is a man who despite having a huge responsibility on his wide shoulders cannot think of anything worse than settling down and marrying the ditzy young woman who his father has arranged for him to meet. Hunt is never happier than putting on a disguise and being someone else, just a while.

Hunt has got a lot of pent-up tension coursing through him, you get a sense that he wants to branch out do thing’s his own way. He is an intelligent man how feels that while doing his Marquess duties he is restrained and controlled, he loves the freedom that being an agent gives him. He also has a deep darkness within him, he was taken prisoner by the French and it was only due to his father paying his hefty ransom that he was released so obviously Hunt owes the Duke his very life, and his sanity which is why he agrees to go through with what his father wants. But the memories of his capture still cling to him like dust.

The beautiful, American Angelica Lovelace has been brought back to her parent’s homeland so that she can forefull her mother’s dying wish; to make her society debut and make a good a good marriage. But that is so far easier said than actually done, as our Angelica is very picky she want’s what her parents; a proper love match and not just an arranged marriage like so many of the Ton have to endure and then there is the fact that she already has the ideal man, the man who sends her heart a flutter and who she trusts inexplicably. The problem is, her ideal man, her soul mate is nothing more than a figment of her over active imagination, that is until one day in Regent’s park she spies a man with the face of her hero.

Angel opened her eyes to look upon the sharp angles of his ruggedly handsome countenance. “You are my world,” she whispered as their gazes met and held….

Angelica is a passionate and loyal young woman, she wants to please her father by doing as he and her late mother want, but she has a wild stubborn side that won’t allow any man to bend her to his will. She knows her own mind and she is proud of that. So, when she meets Hunt, she amazes herself to have fallen for him. She sees real pain in his eyes and she will try to do whatever she can to ease that pain. I really like Angelica, she is bright and she knows what she wants, she won’t be pushed into something she doesn’t want.

On her way north to attend a house party, during the storm that is raging her carriage get in trouble and ends up crashing killing her driver and servants leaving her stranded at the side of the road. That is until she comes across a rider who has a suffered an accident himself, he is unconscious with a head and shoulder wound, with a bit of ingenuity Angelica manages to get herself and the unconscious stranger to a little farm where they take refuge.

To protect her reputation and that of the stranger’s she states that they are a newly married couple, so that the farmer and his wife will take them in. She tends to his wounds and looks after him until he wakes, only for when that happens he wakes not knowing who he is or unable to remember a thing about his life. Hunt wakes to a beautiful Angel tending him, an angel who claims is his wife. He is in the dark he cannot remember anything the only real, tangible thing he knows is what this beautiful woman has told him. Hunt feels an instant connection towards her, she is the lightness he needs to bring him from the dark.

“I am gladdened by your progress.” Hunt said in a teasing tone. “I move as if I am a man many years Wendt’s senior, but my wife approves. I am a blessed man.” She blushed, an action quite hard for him to resist in its appeal. If he were well, Hunt would kiss her thoroughly to keep that touch of color upon her cheeks.

It soon comes to light that they aren’t married and she has made it all up, but for good reasons. His brother Harry and best friend Lord Remmington take him back to his ancestral home – The Devils Keep – where things take an unexpected and frightening turn that brings Hunt and his Angel back together again, only for his friend to take a keen interest in his Angel. Hunt soon finds out that because of his title, he must marry well. Can an out-spoken American really be the woman for him?

Now I do like Remmington, he is an intriguing man. A complex one, but he’s super smooth and has defiantly got the gift of the gab when he decides to charm Angelica, she doesn’t even realise what he’s doing. But that’s not surprising, with him being a spy.

With a murderer on the loose, dark secrets coming out of the wood work at every corner, the spy master hovering about with knowledge that Hunt needs to know and his so-called best friend and fellow agent; Remmington making a move on the only woman who has caught Hunt’s heart.

Over all it is a highly enjoyable read, the romance between Angelica and Hunt simmers and sizzles nicely, Ms Jeffers has done a lovely job at building up their relationship from when Hunt gets injured right to the end, you never know in which direction their story is going to take as there is so much that stands in their way. Yet, that connection that they share, that Hunt has especially, is tender and loving and at times you are just as agonised as he is. I really like how Jeffers has mixes a romance novel with a murder, kidnapping an espionage thriller, I found it exciting, romantic and one that I highly recommend.

This was a complimentary copy via the author in exchange for an honest review.

Angel comes to the Devils Keep is out now and can be found at Amazon.

St Martins Press Holiday Blitz. @SMPRomance #SMPUnwrapped

St Martin’s Press, Holiday Blitz – Spotlight post into Seven Christmas themed books and their authors, plus exclusive Q&As with the authors. This is not to be missed.

Emma Douglas

Emma Douglas would love to live in a world where professional napping was a thing. But until then, she thinks writing books is a pretty awesome alternative. When not writing about imaginary people, she can be found reading, doing something crafty, binge-watching TV, playing her latest song crush on repeat, or singing badly in her car. She lives in Melbourne, Australia in a tiny house stuffed full of books, too many craft supplies and two cats who take up more space than you would expect. Find out more about Emma at http://www.emmadouglasbooks.com.

Q&A with Emma Douglas

When do the holidays official start for you?
After my mom’s birthday which is early December!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Getting together with my family and friends and just having a good time with the people I love.

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Making the plum pudding with my mum and watching Carols by Candlelight which is broadcast on TV here in Oz on Christmas Eve.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
Die Hard

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R Tolkien. Gorgeous illustrations and funny! They’re letters he wrote to his kids (as Father Christmas) each year, telling the stories of what had been happening at the North Pole that year.

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
O Holy Night because I love the melody.

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
I do Christmas in summer here in Oz so that makes it swimming or otherwise avoiding the heat. But in winter I have a weird liking for walking in the cold, as long as I can thaw out with a good book afterward.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
Both my current cats I gave myself for Christmas but that probably doesn’t count. I got a membership to the local zoo which was fun as I like to wander around there. Other than that, like a true bookworm, every year I love getting books.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
Nothing big but I’m sure I’ll come up with a list of books and art supplies that would be great to get.

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
Both to write more and to have more time for non-writing things. Maybe I need a clone for Christmas?

A SEASON OF YOU
By Emma Douglas
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-11098-5
Price: $7.99

It’s Christmastime in the quaint island town of Cloud Bay, where love is always in season…
Will has believed in love at first sight since the day he first laid eyes on Mina Harper five years ago. There was only one problem: She was happily married. Then, when Mina’s husband was killed by a drunk driver, Will figured she’d want nothing to do with a guy who owns a whiskey distillery. So he’s kept his feelings locked away, knowing that not even a Christmas miracle would be enough to melt Mina’s heart. . .
Mina believes her days of true love are behind her. Since losing her husband she’s kept to herself, content to do her own painting and stay out of the limelight that comes with her famous family. But when, after a freak accident, Will comes to her rescue, Mina can’t quite get him out of her mind. As curiosity turns into a fling during Cloud Bay’s first Christmas Festival, she finds it harder to convince herself that her feelings for Will are just mistletoe-inspired. Could Mina be ready to lay the past to rest and finally admit that what she really wants for Christmas—and forever—is Will?

Buy Link

💜💜💜

Kieran Kramer

Kieran Kramer, author of the Impossible Bachelors series, was born in Washington, D.C. to an Air Force pilot father and actress/singer mother. She grew up mainly on Johns Island, a rural sea island near Charleston, South Carolina, where she helped build her family’s log home. Having worked for the CIA and as journalist for The Charlotte Observer, Kieran is now a stay-at-home mom. She once won $34,000 on Wheel of Fortune, and also won on Family Feud. She’s been married to her naval officer husband, Chuck, for twenty-one years, and they have three children.

Q&A with Keiran

When do the holidays official start for you?
Thanksgiving Day, as soon as I turn on the TV to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade! Can’t miss the Rockettes segment, ever!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Inhaling the delicious scent of the Christmas tree, seeing the twinkling lights, hanging out with the family and our friends.

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
I always make frosted sugar cookies, and I always try to watch as many Christmas movies as I can. I also try to go to the Holiday Boat Parade in Charleston harbor!

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
It’s a Wonderful Life; I never get tired of it!

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
Definitely How the Grinch Stole Christmas….

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Away in the Manger sung by Julie Andrews–the UK version of the melody

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
baking bread, using my crockpot, reading cozy books, buying myself winter clothes, going to parties, eating holiday cookies

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
My favorite gift is having my family all together in one place. Nothing matters more. Sometimes we can’t all be together, so I cherish the Christmases that we can celebrate under one roof.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
Yes, having my own little family together again–the last two years some of us have been overseas. But if I have to mention something from the store, I’d love to have some canvases and paint and painting lessons!

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
Yes, to slow down and get centered, to really look around each day and marvel at this beautiful world filled with people who all want to love and be loved. I refuse to let the haters in. Oh, and I have to keep dancing to my Alexa, haha!!

CHRISTMAS AT TWO LOVE LANE
By Kieran Kramer
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-11104-3
Price: $7.99

The best gift of all is the one you share with someone else. . .
From the moment he strode through the iron gate and into the offices of Two Love Lane on a crisp December day, it was obvious that Deacon Banks was something different. He wasn’t a Charleston native, not with that adorable Yankee accent. And unlike the usual client at the elegant matchmaking agency, he had no interest in finding a woman to marry—just a few no-strings dates while he was in town.
Macy Frost takes her professional services very seriously—how could she not, when she’s rumored to be a direct descendant of Cupid? Tech entrepreneur Deacon says he’s just trying to make his social-climbing aunt happy by being seen out and about with a few prominent beauties, but Macy insists she can make her client fall in love…for real. And Deacon can’t help but think she might be right. As charming as the palmetto trees and magnificent harbor may be, it’s the beautiful, breath-of-fresh-air Macy who’s become Deacon’s favorite part of the scenery. But can the hopelessly romantic Southern belle stop trying to fix him up and just let Cupid do his work on her own heart?

Buy Link

💜💜💜

CHRISTMAS IN KILTS
By Terri Brisbain, Lecia Cornwall, Brownwen Evans, Lavinia Kent, May McGoldrick
Swerve
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-17932-6
Price: $4.99

Tis the season to fall in love! These five bestselling authors bring you great tiding of highlanders and romances this holiday season!

A HIGHLANDER’S HOPE by Terri Brisbin
A village harlot who would never dream she could have a different life meets a Highlander who visits for the holidays and brings with him an offer and hope.

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS WAGER by Lecia Cornwall
When a snowstorm forces a charming lass hiding a broken heart to take shelter in a castle with three fine Highland lairds just days before Christmas, there’s a game afoot—who will be the first to win a kiss and maybe her heart.

A SCOT FOR CHRISTMAS by Bronwen Evans
She’s ready to embrace her life and future as a spinster, he’s trying to have one last hurrah before he gives into his family’s wishes and proposes marriage to his neighbor, but fate has other ideas when the lady and the Scot meet at a holiday house party in the wilds of Scotland.

LEFTOVER MISTLETOE by Lavinia Kent
What happens when a highlander finds himself stranded, maybe kidnapped, with an English lady around Christmas… maybe the mistletoe will help answer that question.

SWEET HOME HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS by May McGoldrick
An encounter between an English officer and a desperate aunt trying to keep custody of her young niece leads to a little magic during the holidays.

Buy Link

Q&A with Bronwen Evans

When do the holidays official start for you?
Mid December

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Guilt free reading and being with my family. Even an author needs down time

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Besides putting up my Christmas tree? I always make a pavlova with kiwi fruit for our Christmas day dessert. Remember it’s summer in New Zealand.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
I have three – Love Actually (one of my favourite movies of all time) and Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. I love action movies

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
No, but I will say one Christmas a friend kept telling me to read JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood as I had never read it. So I decided to read book 1. Well, over the Christmas break I read all 12 in a row!

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Mary’s Boy Child by Boney M

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
Well, it’s summer in New Zealand at Christmas, and I love simply getting out my Kindle, pulling up my lounger, and lying by my pool reading a great romance book.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
I love giving, who doesn’t. So I usually give anonymous gifts to my friends children. I knew one child was saving for a present but would be short, so I sent him a card with money in it from Santa. Seeing his joy was priceless. My most memorable gift was when I was 7 and I got my first puppy. I’ll never forget seeing his little nose poking over the edge of the box and hearing his little barks.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
Not really. I have a book wish list and at least everyone knows I’m easy to buy for.

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
I haven’t thought about it yet, but I usually just wish for my family to be happy and healthy.

💜

Q&A with Lecia Cornwall

When do the holidays official start for you?
We officially call it Christmas the day of the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, which is in late November. We watch the parade on TV, have our first toast of eggnog, and enjoy the season’s first batch of Very Special Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then on the closest Saturday to December 13–that’s my husband’s birthday–we go out as a family to get our Christmas tree (we still have a real tree) and put it up.

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Family and food.

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Christmas baking is a huge tradition for us. I make Very Special Christmas Chocolate Chip cookies, Quiche for Christmas breakfast, and Kulach (Ukrainian Christmas bread).

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
Hard Question! The Bishop’s Wife, perhaps, though Love Actually, White Christmas, and Polar Express are very close seconds (or thirds and fourths).

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
I have a small collection of Christmas books that my mother used to put out as decorations every year. When I was little, I loved the one about old fashioned Victorian Christmases, and I adored the gorgeous illustrations in a children’s book called Once In Royal David’s City. My mother also had a book of poetry and stories called 1000 Beautiful Things, which includes a story called The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke. I’m not sure if it’s the memory of my mother reading that story to me or the story itself I loved, but I still have the battered book, and treasure it.

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Another tough question! “Merry Christmas, Darling” by The Carpenters,
“J-I-N-G-L-E Bells” by Frank Sinatra, and anything from Loreena McKennitt’s album To Drive The Cold Winter Away.

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
I love planning for the holidays, and being outdoors, that includes walking with my dog through the fall colours along the Bow River, baking and cooking for Thanksgiving (in mid-October in Canada), decorating the front porch for Halloween, raking leaves and putting the garden to bed for the winter, and stringing up the outdoor Christmas lights on one of the last nice fall weekends before it gets too cold (we don’t turn them on until December 1, which was one of my father’s rules). My now-grown kids still make ice luminaria for Christmas and New Year’s Eve whenever it’s cold enough outside to freeze a bucket of water (Try this, readers, they’re gorgeous, and a little bit of Christmas magic in the dark. Fill a bucket with water. It freezes overnight, but the centre of the ice block stays liquid. Take the ice block out of the bucket, chip a hole in the top, pour out the water, and set the luminaria outside with a tea light candle inside).

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
When I was first married, my in-laws gave us airline tickets so we could fly to Calgary to spend Christmas together as a family. Christmas with my own family growing up was usually very stressful, but my in-laws filled Christmas with love, laughter, warmth, and fun. Although my children are grown (aged 23 and 26), I’ve been fortunate enough to have them home for Christmas every year, and to me that’s the best Christmas gift of all.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
New books are always welcome or maybe just an extra shelf for my massive (and ever growing) to-be-read pile! There’s also the traditional Miss America answer to this question–a wish for world peace–but doesn’t it just seem more important than ever this year?

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
I always set goals in categories: personal, career, home/family, and new things I want to try. I’m usually good about achieving the career and family goals, but not so good at the personal or new ones. I already know that next year will be full of huge new challenges and opportunities for me, so at the moment my goal is to find my way through whatever comes with as much grace and balance as possible.
May McGoldrick

When do the holidays official start for you?
The holiday season has no start or end in our house. We are a multi-cultural and multi-denominational family. One holiday hands off the fun to the next…and the next…and the next…And then we start again! Our full name is ‘May Your Holidays be Endless McGoldrick’! (You can call us ‘Festive’ for short.)

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Family get-togethers

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Before Christmas, we have a ‘Gingerbread House Night.’ I always think simple…graham crackers, candies, some frosting for the roof of a quaint little cottage. My competitive and mildly cutthroat family members, however, build the Golden Gate Bridge, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the White House…

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
Love, Actually

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
The Night Before Christmas

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Christmas is All Around You (Bill Nighy via The Troggs)

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
Pick your own peaches. Pick your own apples. Pick your own pumpkin. Cut your own Christmas tree. And reading.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
For all the years our sons were young, we hid Christmas gifts all over the house. Assembly and wrapping took place after the boys were asleep on Christmas Eve. I remember the year when I used the last bit of wrapping paper while congratulating myself on my precision and planning. What I didn’t know was that Jim had yet to wrap my gifts.
The next day, we all lined up on the stairs and then raced down to see what Santa left for everyone. The most charming gift was sitting under the tree. A large black trash bag containing Nikoo’s gifts…tied up with a bow.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
A cottage on the beach in Southern California. Jim says, “Keep writing.”
Any resolutions or goals for next year?
Smile every day.
Write every day.
Make others happy.

💜

Q&A wiyh Terri Brisbin

When do the holidays official start for you?
Thanksgiving!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Family! And now watching the grandkids celebrating!

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Our traditions have changed a bit as my sons married and grandkids began arriving. The one thing we still do is gather to decorate the Christmas tree at our house.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
Christmas Vacation and Elf

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
I just love reading holiday romance anthologies!

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
A Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
I love walking in my neighborhood after a new snow.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
My favorite gift was when I arranged a surprise family trip to Disney World for Christmas! It was hard but I succeed!

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
None yet but there will be!

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
It’s been a really difficult 2017 so my resolution for 2018 is to make sure my loved ones know they are…loved.

💜💜💜

Donna Alward 

A busy wife and mother of three (two daughters plus the family dog), Donna Alward believes hers is the best job in the world: a combination of stay-at-home mom and romance novelist. Donna loves being back on the East Coast of Canada after nearly twelve years in Alberta where her romance career began, writing about cowboys and the west. She is the author of Somebody Like You, Somebody’s Baby, and Someone to Love.

 

Q&A With Donna Alward

When do the holidays official start for you?
December 1 – or the weekend just preceding it. That’s when we get out the decorations and go crazy.

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
THE MOVIES. I love sitting with my kids (who are of the nearly-adult variety) and watching holiday movies with a glass of wine or hot cocoa.
Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Tons! There are certain things we bake. We have a whole bunch of Christmas Eve traditions, including a barbecue (steak!), putting presents under the tree, going for a drive to see the lights, and watching The Polar Express. And even at their age, they still ask me to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
I have too many – my fave depends on my mood. Top contenders: Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, White Christmas, Love Actually, The Polar Express.

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
Hmmm. I don’t tend to re-read holiday themed books, but I’ll confess that I have a soft spot for any (all) of the Christmas books in the Chesapeake Shores series. Those O’Briens… 🙂

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Nat King Cole’s version of The Christmas Song. Simplicity and nostalgia all rolled into one smooth voice.

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
Cozy nights with a glass of wine and a book. LOL! Seriously though, I miss living near the Rockies, because the skiing there spoiled me for anywhere else.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
One year my sister put together a recipe book with our mom’s fave recipes over the years. She added some of her own, too, but if I want something that Mom used to make back in the eighties? It’s in that book!

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
Yes! Yoga socks, books, and a kindle.

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
Do better. 🙂

DECK THE HALLS
By Donna Alward
Swerve
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-17933-3
Price: $3.99

With shades of It’s a Wonderful Life, one man must face his past to find his future this Christmas.

In the last year, George’s life has drastically changed. The formerly homeless veteran now has a job he likes, a family in the residents of Darling, VT, and for the first time in years, a home. But while his present is good, he’s still haunted by the past, a past that appears shortly before Christmas when the older sister of his brother-in-arms hunts him down and finds him in Darling, working at the Ladybug Garden Center.

Amy’s looking for closure for her family after her brother’s death in the Middle East, but the serious man she finds working in Vermont doesn’t resemble the soldier she remembers from years before. This man is hardened and yet somehow fragile, too, and in her desire to find out what really happened to her brother, she learns more about George than she ever expected.

With a little Christmas magic and the whole town supporting them, can these two bruised hearts make a future together?

Buy link

💜💜💜

Nancy Naigle

USA Today bestselling author NANCY NAIGLE whips up small-town love stories with a dash of suspense and a whole lot of heart. Now happily retired, she devotes her time to writing, antiquing, and the occasional spa day with friends. A native of Virginia Beach, she currently calls North Carolina home. Nancy is the author of Christmas Joy.

Q&A with Nancy Naigle

When do the holidays official start for you?
I used to believe I was an “after Thanksgiving” gal when it came to gearing up for the holidays, however, the last two years I’ve had Christmas books come out in October so I’m totally amped up extra early. Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas starts in late October too, and I’ll be tuned into those movies no matter when they start. So, Merry Christmas with a pumpkin and turkey feather on top!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
The smell of pine from a fresh cut tree throughout the house, and getting more intense every time I vacuum up the needles. Warm aromatic afternoons of baking. Crafting homemade gifts. Fellowship. Christmas movies and cocoa. Glossy gift wrap, and wire ribbon that makes a simple shoelace bow look pretty on a package.

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
Baking cookies. Old family favorites, and a few new recipes which always results in at least one complete #fail.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
My favorite all-time holiday movie is the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is still my very, very favorite. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I still tear up when the Abominable Snowman bonks poor Rudolph on the head. Thank goodness for good ol’ Hermie the wanna-be dentist!

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
I love all those special sized hardcover holiday books. I have a shelf dedicated to them. One that I really love is by Debbie Macomber — THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS. The beautiful gold cover perfectly envelopes the warm story inside.
What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
Silent Night.

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
Bundling up and stargazing on a chilly night.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
Homemade gifts. Always! Among them, an old Singer sewing machine with the metal frame turned into a table, a handcrafted snack jar made out of wood with a mason jar, loop potholders, and homemade Christmas ornaments. A girl can never have too many ornaments, right?
Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
I don’t have any tangible items on my wish list. Making happy memories is all I wish for this year.

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
To live a healthier lifestyle, and figure out how to do that while integrating more book events into my schedule so I can meet more of the dear readers who’ve blessed me with spending their free time reading my books. Thanks, y’all.

HOPE AT CHRISTMAS
By Nancy Naigle
St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-10867-8
Price: $15.99

Sydney Ragsdale is divorced, but her husband is still calling the shots. In an attempt to shake free from his hold, she and her daughter, RayAnne, head for tiny Hopewell, North Carolina to the only asset her ex has no control over – a decaying farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents. She finds solace at The Book Bea, the bookstore she’d loved as a child during her summer stays.

Kevin MacAlea, Mac to his friends, is the local high school history teacher and baseball coach. Father of a twelve-year-old son, he’s Hopewell, North Carolina’s most sought after bachelor. His young bride abandoned him and his son just before Christmas and has never come back. It has left his son bitter about Christmas which is hard for Mac who loves the magic of the season. He’s been the Santa here in Hopewell since the year Seth was born.

When a catastrophe forces The Book Bea to close before the end of the year, everyone in the small town is feeling the loss. While Sydney is already off-balance by the bad news, her ex-husband breaks a promise to their daughter that sends Ray Anne running away. As Sydney tries to figure out what her next steps are she discovers all of the answers are right here in Hopewell.

Buy Link

💜💜💜

Donna Grant

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Donna Grant has been praised for her “totally addictive” and “unique and sensual” stories. She’s written more than thirty novels spanning multiple genres of romance including the bestselling Dark King stories, Dark Craving, Night’s Awakening, and Dawn’s Desire. Her acclaimed series, Dark Warriors, feature a thrilling combination of Druids, primeval gods, and immortal Highlanders who are dark, dangerous, and irresistible. She lives with her two children, a dog, and four cats in Texas.

Q&A with Donna Grant

When do the holidays official start for you?
I’d say October 1st, because I get ready for Halloween. Then November 1st to get ready for Thanksgiving, but it day after Thanksgiving, it’s all Christmas!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
The decorations. I love to see it all!

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
We spend Christmas Eve at my parents where there is a bunch of finger foods. Then Christmas Day everyone comes to my house where we have gumbo (Cajun tradition). Then we head to the movies about about 2.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
It’s a toss up between White Christmas and Love Actually and Christmas Vacation. We watch them every year.

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
No. I’m an equal opportunist for holiday books. 🙂

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
White Christmas

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
Around me we have the Texas Renaissance Festival, which is the largest in the US. It always begins at the end of September and runs until Thanksgiving weekend. It always signals the begin of fall for us.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
I received my long-haired Chihuahua for Christmas. She was unexpected, but so amazing!

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
Walls. The flood from Hurricane Harvey took everything, but I’d like walls and doors for privacy again. lol

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
I try to make some improvement each year. For 2017 it was balance. I’m not sure what 2018 will be yet. I might still need to work on balancing everything.

THE CHRISTMAS COWBOY HERO
By Donna Alward
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-16542-8
Price: $7.99

New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant returns to Texas, where a small-town legend just might find the greatest gift of all. . .

’Tis the season for ex-Navy SEAL Clayton East to come home for the holidays—even if the mood at home is anything but festive. His father is ill. The East Ranch is in financial trouble. And now it’s on Clayton, the prodigal son, to make sure his family doesn’t lose everything.

Headstrong Abby Harper is like a mother to her younger brothers, who she’s helped raise since she was a teenager. Keeping them in line is no small task while she’s also working toward her college degree. And now that one of her brothers has been arrested for stealing cattle at the East Ranch, Abby is at her wits’ end. But there is a silver lining: Clayton East. He believes in second chances, and is willing to give one to her brother this Christmas. Letting beautiful Abby—and the inescapable longing in his heart—off the hook, however, is a whole ’nother story. Could it be that the woman of this local hero’s dreams has been back at home all along?

Buy Link

💜💜💜

Manda Collins 

Manda Collins is the author of the Studies in Scandal series, The Lords of Anarchy series, The Ugly Duckling series and the Wicked Widows series as well as several other Regency-set romances. She spent her teen years wishing she’d been born a couple of centuries earlier, preferably in the English countryside. Time travel being what it is, she resigned herself to life with electricity and indoor plumbing, and read lots of books. When she’s not writing, she’s helping other people use books, as an academic librarian.

Q&A with Manda Collins

When do the holidays official start for you?
The first frosty morning when there’s a nip in the air and I can feel that winter is on the way. I love that feeling!

What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Getting together with family and friends is the best. We don’t necessarily see one another all that much during the year, but we all make time during the holidays.

Are there any holiday traditions you do every year without fail?
I listen to carols sung by the King’s College Choir every year and spend at least one day boiling cloves and spices on the stove to get the house smelling like Christmas.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?
The Thin Man starring Myrna Loy and William Powell as Nick and Nora Charles. (Of course MY favorite holiday movie has witty repartee and murder in it!)

Do you have a favorite holiday book?
That would be Christmas Angel by Jo Beverley. It’s one of her early Company of Rogues books and I love the way Lucien and Beth and her children become a family over the course of the story.

What’s your all-time favorite holiday song?
The Holly and the Ivy.

What’s your favorite activity during fall or winter?
I’m not really the outdoor type (though I have been known to go outdoors) so I like to snuggle up inside with a cup of hot chocolate and read. Or knit.

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received or given?
My grandmother gave me the gift of the love of reading. It’s the best thing I’ve ever been given.

Do you have any items on your wish list this year?
I’m at an age now where the things I wish for aren’t material (though obviously there are some that I’d like–a new car, for instance) but stuff like health and for my family to be safe and happy. I wouldn’t turn down a pretty scarf, though!

Any resolutions or goals for next year?
Just to keep writing books that my audience enjoys reading!

WITH THIS CHRITMAS RING
By Manda Collins
Swerve
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-17459-8
Price: $3.99

A wallflower determined to fulfill a dying promise, the rogue she jilted years ago, and an orphaned baby are all brought together amidst the magic of Christmas in this new novella from Manda Collins.

Miss Merry Parks makes a deathbed promise to a schoolfriend that her infant daughter will be taken to her absent father. There’s only one problem—to find the baby’s father, she’ll have to consult his cousin, Viscount Wrotham, the man she jilted five years ago. The man she couldn’t forget.

Alex Ponsonby, Viscount Wrotham, is stunned to find Merry Parks—looking more lovely than ever–on his doorstep with an infant in her arms. His shock soon turns to dismay when he learns his own cousin William is the man who abandoned his wife and child. As head of the family he’s duty bound to see right is done. But he can’t let this opportunity pass. He’ll take Merry and the baby to his cousin, but he’ll woo her back in the process.

Merry agrees to travel with Alex and the baby to Wrotham Castle, where the entire Ponsonby family has gathered for Christmas, but her plans to see the baby settled then leave are ruined by a snowstorm. After five years apart, Alex and Merry will spend the week getting reacquainted. Perhaps it’s the spirit of the holiday, or the magic of the season, but there could be something else in the air this Yuletide…A Christmas Reunion.

Buy Link

New Review – A Secret Scottish Christmas (Agents of The Crown Series, #4) by Regan Walker

Spies and Scots and Shipmasters, oh my!

Scotland 1819 ~ Twin brothers Nash and Robbie Powell of Powell & Sons Shipping, London, sail with their fellow Agents of the Crown to Scotland for a secret celebration of Christmastide, a holiday long frowned upon by the Scottish Kirk. But more than Christmas is being kept secret. The two brothers have accepted an assignment from the Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth to ferret out a fugitive fomenting rebellion among the Scots.

Aileen Stephen, the only daughter of an Aberdeen shipbuilder, had to be clever, devious and determined to gain her place in the family business. She succeeded to become a designer of highly coveted ships. One night, a man’s handsome face appears to her in a dream. When two men having that same face arrive on a ship full of Londoners, Ailie wonders what her second sight is telling her. Is the face she saw a portender of the future, a harbinger of danger, or both? And which of the two Englishmen is the one in her dream?

Older than Nash by a mere five minutes, Robbie has always been protective of his twin. When he realizes Nash is attracted to the sister of their Scottish host, he thinks to help matters along. But Nash wants no help from his brother, not where Ailie Stephen is concerned because Robbie is attracted to the girl himself!

Two brothers vie for the affection of the Scottish lass but only one stirs her passion. Which one will it be? And what will she do when she learns they are spies?

This is the next instalment of Walker’s hugely enjoyable and highly acclaimed “Agents of the Crown” Series which tells the stories of a group of Governmental Agents as they risk their very lives, not just for their country but for love too. Walker stuns with her gift for story-telling, she magically entwines historic fact and fiction to create a thought-provoking sensual romance, one that will stay with you. A secret Scottish Christmas brings together all our heroes and their spouses and takes them to Scotland for Christmas, this time we are introduced to the handsome as sin and charming Powell twins; Robbie and Nash.

Robbie and Nash are the sons of Claire and Christopher Powell, who anyone who has read Walker’s work will know that they started their own story off in, shall we say somewhat scandalous style and Claire is the daughter of my whole time favourite character; Pirate Jean Donet from Echo in the Wind. Now the twins are very much like their free-spirited mother, rugged grandfather and equally like their serious father. Robbie and Nash like their brothers are agent’s and they have been given the assignment to go to Scotland and apprehend a man called Kirbride, who is causing an awful lot of trouble with his independent speeches and they need to close him down before his words of revolt cause carnage in the streets of Scotland, just like similar men have done in cities such as Manchester.

When the opportunity arises for them to be able to go to the very village that Kirkbride is said to be hiding in, without arousing suspicion they jump at the chance. So all the Powel brother’s and their wives, their friends Lord and Lady Ormand and the Doweger Countess of Claremont; who I have to say is a pure joy, all embark on the Albatross and sail to Arboath where they will be spending the festive season with Mary; Lady Ormands best friend Emily and her new husband, William Stephans and his younger sister Aileen (or Ailie).

The twins really are mirror men, they are two sides of a coin, they think alike and look-alike and as close as two peas in a pod, that is until they both glimpse the mysteriously beautiful and vibrant; Ailie.

“My brother’s a bit slow,” muttered Nash. Robbie shot Nash a look of annoyance.
“Seems I recall you accusing me of being too fast, Brother.” Nash coughed into his hand.
“I was speaking of understanding just now, not your manner of living.” Then to Ailie, “Please excuse my brother.”
“I always make excuses for English rakes,” she said in a matter-of-factly way.

Ailie Stephens, let’s just say she isn’t looking forward to having her home invaded by a bunch of spoilt, English aristocrat’s, but she will put a smile on her face and make them welcome for her sister-in-law; Emily. There is another, more personal reason why she is willing to welcome them, you see Ailie has a secret, one she guards religiously because some may not understand her gift, she had a dream that concerns one of them, a handsome man with dark hair, coming to Arboarth with unknown reasons. Now, Ailie has learned to take her dreams seriously and she is wondering why she would dream of this man, and more importantly what it means.

Then she comes face to face with the man in her dream, except there are two of them. Which one of them was the man in her dream? She first sets out to find out which twin she had dreamed off and in what way, and why she dreamed of him but along the way she becomes entranced them. She sees their differences, like no one else can and she finds herself falling for the men they are below their twin masks.

Ailie is quite the character she isn’t your regular run of the mill lady. She is a grafter she enjoys employing her mind instead of using her feminine whiles to get what she wants, you instantly feel a really connection with her. She is respectful and emphatic to the men that work at the ship builders yard, she has had to prove herself and her abilities, because of her bull-headed approach and her intelligence, not to mention her gift everyone respects her. I really like how she proves that a woman can work within a man’s world and be respected for it.

Robbie faced his brother. “I told you she was interesting.”
“And I seem to recall saying she is enchanting.”
“Ho!” quipped Robbie. “The game is afoot.”

Both brother’s instantly fall for the fiery young woman, which in some way could lead to disaster for the brother’s, especially when they begin to vie for her attention. Robbie notices that like himself his brother hasn’t fallen for her like they do every other pretty woman they see, but Nash has fallen head over heels for the lady designer, he is impressed by her ability and the absolute respect she has from the men at the ship builders yard, her intelligent mind and strength entrances him. Robbie having noticed all of this would like to help his brother but, does he really want the beautiful Ailie’s attention to be more focused on his brother? But no matter what he is feeling, Robbie knows that they have a job to do. Both Robbie and Nash fear that if she ever finds out that they are secret agents for the crown, after one of her own countrymen, whatever blossoming relationship they with her and her family could very well go up in smoke.

I really like the twins’, it is the younger by five minutes; Nash that caught my attention. He is quieter and more serious than his brother but his intelligent and constantly turning mind has hooked me. I like his artistic and calming persona and like Robbie he has a fun and worldly and mischievous aura that draws you to both.

As they get into their assignment trying to find Kirkbride, the brothers soon realise that for the first time in their lives, they are not following the same hymn sheet. After what happened in Manchester, Nash starts to feel very differently towards Kirkbride and the other speakers, deep down he sees them as only for acting for the good of their families and regular working people. Nash starts to think that they should give the benefit of the doubt, but Robbie has never strayed from his duty, which speaks a lot about his personality especially as he is a bit of a rogue, he thinks that his brother has had his head turned and he is dreaming.

This is wonderful the characters are full-bodied and meticulously drawn up, and instantly captivating. Ailie is a real tomboy. She has this great mind and she is so very talented and resourceful. Walker has done a wonderful job at separating the twins, personalities. Nash being the younger and more serious twin, he is thoughtful and kind eager to learn and yet below that serious book-loving, designer you sense a volcano that is about to erupt. Whereas Robbie has already erupted, his is wilder than his brother, he is the stereotypical rake, charming, arrogant and playful but below all the bluster he has a heart of pure gold and highly protective of his twin brother.

“Aye, I worry. My dreams speak a warning of danger.” He pulled her close. “See only what is in my eyes, Ailie. He took her head in his hands and kissed her, glad for her arms embracing him . Lifting his head, he looked long into her beautiful eyes . “Do the sun’s first rays reveal my feelings for you?” He let her see his longing, his desire and his love. “Aye.”“Then come.” He took her hand…

I really like how Walker has revolved their Christmas love story around what was going on with the weavers and the workers across the country, the time wasn’t kind to the ordinary working class and like Nash I feel a real kinship and utter despair and how horribly the working class were treated. Walker has captured that unease between the workers and the aristocracy with absolute sensitivity and respect. This is what I thoroughly enjoy about Walker’s work her skill with getting into the mind of each her character’s and detailing their struggle, and her absolute attention to detail is as ever spot on.

The Secret Scottish Christmas is educational as well as romantic, the romance between Ailie and the twin she finally ends up with is endearing and loving, and proves that no matter the differences love of a good person can triumph. If you like a bit of a love triangle, handsome spies and artistic heroines, secrets, traditions and romance all wrapped up with a big Christmas bow, then this is the book you need to read.

Seasonally enchanting and romantically perfect!

This was an ARC version via the author in exchange for an honest review.

A Secret Scottish Christmas is released on 6th November and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

New Review – The Viking Warrior’s Bride (Viking Warriors #4) by Harper St George

A battle for power and passion

A skilled archer with the heart of a warrior, Gwendolyn of Alvey has proved herself capable of defending her homeland. But the threat of invasion and her father’s deathbed wish force her to do the unthinkable: wed Vidar, leader of the enemy.

Duty to form an alliance between two powerful clans binds Vidar to Gwendolyn, but desire tempts him to distraction. Her nature is to dominate, but he’s determined to seduce her into submission on the battlefield—and in the bedchamber…

My View

Oh, how much do I love this series? And it is very sad that this is the last in the series. As it was reading “In Bed with the Viking Warrior” that really got me hooked with Medieval/Viking Romances, I have a real soft spot for “The Viking Warriors ” but Harper St. George has finished this remarkable series in a good place. It’s a good send off and great to see what St. George has done with proud and cunning Vidar, pairing him up with an equally strong and battle hardened, Lady Archer is genius.

Warrior Vidar is being forced to marry the daughter of a Saxon lord who just happens to hold a very vital piece of land and with the enemy Rogues still on the loose causing havoc and the pics from the north testing the Danes. The only way to guarantee power is in their hands, is for the powerful Danish Jarls to join forces and make a pact with the Saxon; Alvey. In other word’s one of them has to marry in to the Alvey clan and as his brothers have all gone and married leaving him the one remaining high-ranking warrior, the duty is firmly on him.

He decides that if he must marry this woman he will do it for his people and his brother the Jarl, but he fully intends on bedding her and leaving her as soon as humanly possible. That is until he meets the fiery Gwendolyn. She turns his head and his plans upside down, and that’s before he even put’s a ring on her finger – which is a trial of its own, I can tell you.

She was full of fire and a wildness that drew him in. He had no doubt that she would fight him at every turn and for some reason he was starting to enjoy it….

Since the death of her father, Gwen is the Lady of the house but not just that she is also the leader of Alvey’s warriors. She has become their sharp shooting lady Archer and through valiant battles of her own she has gained the trust and respect of these hardened warriors. On finding out about the bargain that her father had made with Eirik, the Danish Jarl she is appalled, the very last thing that she wants is to be forced to marry especially marry a Dane; her enemy. How on earth can she lead her men and go on in her father’s stead, with a husband around?

Gwen was more or less been raised as a boy, since her father seeing that she wasn’t interested in girly things allowed her to train with the warriors and in doing so she is the remarkable highly skilled archer she is today. She is fierce, stubborn and very stuck in her ways she has a resilient determination that can rival any warrior and she isn’t afraid of fighting for what she believes in and for her people. She will do anything to make sure that her family and the people of Alvey are protected, even if that mean’s marrying a Dane. She is definitely living way a head if her time, she’s quite the little Saxon suffragette, demanding rights and equality.

Gently, he took the ring from her and slid it on her finger. He didn’t say anything, but it felt like he’d claimed her. A knot churned in her stomach. The idea of being owned by any man revolted her, but there was something about this man that terrified her….

She takes an instantly dislike to Vidar and she has a feeling that the large, arrogant Dane doesn’t want to be married any more than she does, but like her he has no choice either. So, they go through with it, and the battle of wills and power begins. Even at the marriage ceremony itself they battle for control and they don’t let up right through. Yet, she soon comes to realise that to keep the peace amongst her Alvey people and the Danes, Gwen and her new husband must put on a united front, they have to be seen to actual tolerate one another.

Vidar soon changes his original plan to leave his wife as soon as possible, he is drawn to the daring and intelligent Gwen, especially after seeing her climb down from a tree in her tight-fitting leather trousers. She isn’t like any other woman he has ever met, he thinks that having a wife means having a mousy little woman around to do exactly what he wants of her, but how wrong he is. Gwen is like fire and brimstone and he finds that he is constantly on guard around her.

‘Do you submit?’ His voice was soft, but held a husky note that raked across her senses. It prickled her skin and caused a flutter of response in her belly.
‘Never….’

This is so sexually charged, the chemistry between Vidar and Gwendolyn is red hot, any hotter and your eyes would smoke with just reading it, they are made of the same stuff. I love when they start getting to know each other, there is a real spark between them and the respect he shows her is sweet and uplifting.

As always the writing is strong and articulated as we have come to expect from St. George. When I read an historical I like the historic detailing within the story and St George doesn’t disappoint, she has got it all spot on, everything is crystalized and explained to a high degree from the smells of our characters to the actual Viking marriage ceremony – which I found absolutely enchanting, the trading of the swords is a beautiful ritual. This has everything you want in a Historical Romance.

Perfect! A great end to a fabulous series.

   

This was a ARC via the author in exchange for a honest review.

You can purchase The Viking Warriors Bride at Amazon

 

New Review – Fatal Masquerade #LadyAlkmeneMysteries book 4 by Vivian Conroy @VivWrites @HQDigitalUK #BlogTour

Masked danger…

Lady Alkmene Callender has always loved grand parties, but when she receives an invitation to a masked ball thrown by Franklin Hargrove– oil magnate, aviation enthusiast and father of her best friend, Denise– she’s never seen such luxury. The estate is lit up with Chinese lanterns in the gardens, boats operated by footmen float across the pond and the guest list features the distinguished, rich and powerful!

But below the glamour, evil is lurking. When a dead body is discovered, it forces Lady Alkmene to throw off her mask and attempt to find the true killer before Denise’s family are accused. If only her partner, Jake Dubois, weren’t hiding something from her…

This case might just be more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.

My View

Book four in the Lady Alkmene Mysteries sees our lady sleuth invited to a masquerade party at the home of the wealthy Franklin Hargrove as soon as she steps through the front door it is instantly clear that there is something very wrong with the household which intrigues our Alkmene and when journalist Jake Dubois turns up under the pretence of writing a story about the lords new foray into motor engines she knows that something is amiss. Why would Jack be there just to write a story about a motor engine? Especially as Jack has unashamedly can’t stand the aristocracy and he too is acting rather secretive.

With the Masquerade party in full swing Alkmene being her usual some what nosey self, but not surprising with this odd bunch of people who all have secrets she needs to find out. There is the very unsettling psychiatrist Theobald Zeilovsky and his wife who tend to turn up in the most unexpected places, the acid tongued Mrs Hargrove who is keeping secrets and threatening any one who gets too close, aunt Felicia who seems too jumpy whenever the Steeplechase case is mentioned, but why? Then there is the odd behavior of a particular footman. Cobb caught her eye right from the moment she stepped through the doors, what is it about him that put our lady sleuth on edge? But it’s not just the other household guests and servants that we acting odd, so is Jake, why is he there?

Jake put the notebook in his pocket and extracted a black silk mask. He made a face at her before slipping it on. It transformed him from a handsome man in a tuxedo into an intriguing rogue….

With all of this swirling through her head she isn’t expecting to find the murdered body of none other than the odd footman Cobb and for her to have the finger pointed at for it! But who really stuck the knife in? There seems to be an endless list of people who have a reason for wanting the cocky footman dead, was it a member of the Masquerade?

As usual our Lady sleuth and her faithful handsome journalist set out to uncover the truth but what they find is shocking and disturbing and leads to quite an unexpected ending.

Just like with book one; A Proposal to Die For, the atmosphere between Jake and Alkmene crackles. There is something there between these two, from the little looks and the thoughts that crosses Alkmene’s mind right at the end, you know that there something must happen. There is a blossoming romance between them and I hope that if we get a fifth instalment that Jake and Alkmene finally get the chance to give it a go.

‘You will be careful, won’t you?’ Alkmene’s heart was beating fast, and she suddenly felt there were so many things she’d wanted to say to Jake, but never had. Now she might never get another chance…..

I love the cliff hanger ending, if it were a TV show it would freeze frame on our Jake Dubois with “To be continued…” running along the bottom of shot, Ms Conroy has left book four in such a place that there must be another episode, we need to know the answers to the questions that circulate the last scene.

I thoroughly enjoy this series, its like being transported to another, more glamorous and deadly time. With twists and unexpected turns Fatal Masquerade keeps you hooked from page one to the very last and beyond as you are still wondering where we are going from here. The writing is riveting and charming especially Alkmene and Jake who are still fun and engrossing.

Another winner and highly recommended.

This was an ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review.

Fatal Masquerade is out today and can be purchased from Amazon.