Ramblings of a Random Reader

Another NetGalley book. Alasdair, Lord Datchworth, finds himself in a pub where he witnesses a man, Matthias, put his sister Mary, a virgin, up for auction to the highest bidder. For a reason he does not know, Alasdair outbids all the other creepy men at the seedy pub. After winning the bid, Alasdair doesn't know what he is going to do with Mary. Mary is sure Alasdair has less than honorable intentions for her, but after he sends her to hallway of the inn where he is renting a room, Mary is admitted back and surprised when he does not make a move on her. The next morning, Alasdair insists he and Mary must head to Scotland to marry because they spent the night together and now her reputation is ruined. Alasdair forms a plan to ensure that Mary is well taken care of for the rest of her life, once this is accomplished he intends to see his plan of letting himself succumb to his addiction to opium to fruition. He again ensure her that she will not have to perform 'wifely duties,' which Mary is again shocked by. Mary, meanwhile, has decided that she will follow Alasdair's plan, follow him to London, and once she is sure he is free of his addiction, she will leave him to search for her mother. Mary just learned that her mother was alive, her father confessed on his deathbed that her mother did not die giving birth to Mary, something she has always felt guilty for, but she is in fact an illegitimate child because her parents were unwed when she was born. After their marriage, Mary cannot help herself, she seduces Alasdair on their wedding night, when he is still struggling with withdrawals from his addiction. Much to both of their surprise, they enjoy themselves and each fantasizes about being together again. The next day, Matthias comes back to retrieve Mary because he has found letter from Mary's mother-he is Mary's half-brother, a notion which becomes a bit of a joke between her and Alasdair throughout the book-that he wants to use to blackmail her mother into giving him more money. Alasdair is also being pursued by his cousin, Hugh, who wished to take over the family fortune, with the aid of his doctor by keeping Alasdair supplied in opium and hopefully eventually seeing him die from his addiction. Alasdair is able to help Mary get away from her evil brother and the next night Mary saves Alasdair from his cousin. This begins a long journey to not only get away from those who seek to harm them, but also for Mary and Alasdair to open up to each other about their pasts and help each other. The author writes a wonderful story of two lost souls who've never found anyone they can trust or confide in, finding that trust and ability to confide in each other. Both Mary and Alasdair are falling for each other, but will not admit it to the other for fear their hearts will be broken. The only downfall of this book is that the resolution of things between the two main characters did not happen until the last 2 pages of the book, which caused quite a bit of anxiety for this reader, believing that they would not end up together after all. I would have liked to have seen a bit of their future, perhaps an epilogue some months down the road.

Another great book by Beverley Kendall! Charlotte left Alex at the alter 5 years ago, with no word of why, leaving a devestated Alex behind. Hearing that her twin Caroline is gravely I'll, Charlotte journeys back to London from the United States, with a heavy heart and BIG secret. When Charlotte shows up at her brother James' home, she doesn't expect to find a healthy Caroline let alone Alex. Alex is shaken to the core when he sees the former love of his life. Alex indulged himselfin women and alcohol, to his deriment and nearly his demise, but he's been alcohol free for two years, seeing Charlotte is enough to tempt him off the wagon.Alex's loathing of Charlotte only intensifies when learns her secret...that she bore him a son 4 years ago in America. Charlotte tries to explain she only left because she received a letter threatening to expose the fact that she and Catherines mother was a former slave and that she was trying save Alex and her family from scandal and ruin. Alex tells Charlotte in no uncertain terms he will NEVER forgive her or love her again. In spite of his words, Charlotte vows she WILL earn his forgiveness and earn his love again. Charlotte still fears her life will be ruined when the letter writer learns she has returned and cannot allow herself to be completely and truly happy until the identity of the letter writer is learned.The rest of the book covers Alex and Charlotte trying to parent Nicholas together, explore their own relationship and learn the identity of the letter writer. The last couple of chapters bring out a few revelations that shocked and surprised me. This is the 3rd book in The Elusive Lords series, I will be reading other two books in the series, there are a total of 4 and I've read one already.I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys well written historical romance novels.

Another Netgalley book. I absolutely adored Derek and Elizabeth! Derek is smitten with Elizabeth and in a moment of lust kisses her in the garden at a ball when she followed him outside. The problem with this...they were overheard by Lady Danvers, the biggest gossip of the ton. In order to prevent Lady Danvers from ruining her, Elizabeth lies that the man she was with was her betrothed and as Lady Danvers had nit seen the man, she believed Elizabeth, grudgingly, but insisted she be intruduced to said fiance' as soon as the engagement was announced. Elizabeth informed her family of what Derek had done and the lie she had told, which resulted in Derek being confronted and told he had to marry Elizabeth. Not wanting to be coerced into a marriage he did not want-he believed Elizabeth set him up-Derek set out to find a way out of the marriage. What Derek finds out about Elizabeth and familial connection to a sordid time from his brothers past sets him on the path to make Elizabeth pay. Only after he has made a huge mistake does Derek learn the real truth of what happen with his brother and Elizabeths sister.The author weaves a wonderful story of lust, lies and passion. The secondary characters of Alex, Charlotte, Catherine, Missy and James provide good support to the main characters. I am reading the next book in this series, An Heir of Deception, which takes up where this book left off, only covering the lives of Charlotte and Alex.

I loved this book!!! I was given this nook through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and I have to say this is a wonderful book. set in London in 1817, it tells the story of Milicent (Millie) Ashton, whose family has just moved back to London from India. Millie's and her brother Charles were born in India and are trying to learn the ways of the ton. Millie is having a difficult time because she does not fit the mold of the proper English lady...she has curves, in other words she is more like a real woman. I found this to be a delightful change, but what was even better is that a Marquess, Alex Radley, fell for her and curves from the first time he laid eyes on her. Millie has a sense of humor, curses with best of them and does not titter and throw herself at Alex's feet like the rest of the eligible girls do, and Alex likes that.Another issue that I have not read about in any of the historical romance novels I have read is illiteracy among the ton. Alex is unable to read or write, he says "everything gets mixed up on the page." I believe he may be dyslexic. The family covers this 'shame' by not telling anyone and having Alex learn by rote memorization. Alex's inability to read and write is the root of the major conflict in the book, because of this, Alex has to decide if he will keep his secret from Millie and lose her forever or come clean and take the chance she may turn her back on him when she learns his secret.The author weave a tale that is intriguing, heartbreaking and believable. I could feel Millie and Alex's pain, she at the rejection by the ton because she is not a tiny waif, and he because of his inability to read and write, calling himself an idiot and a simpleton.David and Lucy, two of Alex's siblings, and Charles, Millie's brother are great secondary characters who the author has given just enough of a part in the story to get reader wanting each of them to have their own story. The epilogue leaves it open to take up a story with David, which I would definitely read.

I was given this to read from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I have to say, I love, love, loved Matson & Sophia, the attraction between them was evidentbfrom their first meeting when an orphan boy stole her reticule with her late mothers treasured brooch & Matsons knife. Sophia vowed to her father on his deathbed that she would marry a man with a tittle, which did not seem a problem...until she met Matson Brentwood. Matson & his twin brother Icerson had just returned to London after years in America, upon their return rumors began to pop up that they were the children of Sir Randolph & an affair he had with their mother. Matson vowed not to allow Sir Randolph to be a part of his life...until he learned the woman he desired most, Sophia, was Sir Randolphs ward. Passion ignites between Matson & Sophia but her twin aunts, Mae & June are there to ensure she fulfills her vow. Sophia refuses to go back on her vow, even when Matson says he will go back on his, a devestating revelation the causes Matson to make the decision to return to America rather than watch the woman he loves with someone else.Amelia Grey writes a wonderful story of love that seems unattainable and how a promise made does not always have to be a promise kept and that forgiving oneself can be a better way of keeping a vow made under mitigating circumstances. There are five other books before this in this series, I have them on my to be read list now.

I found this book to be quite slow. I had to leave it to read something else and come back several times. I liked Nick, he was sweet and kind. Lexie was nice but so focused on her 'list' she nearly missed out on a good thing. After reading The Wedding Gamble I was expecting something a bit more fast paced than this was.

I SO loved this book! I saw it rec'd by The Fictionators and after reading the summary decided I had to read it. Laura changed from a meek, mid preschool teacher that everyone took advantage of to a tough yet tender kick ass woman who was David's match in every way. David changed too, from a hard hearted undercover FBI agent that didn't believe in love to a man who would do anything to keep the woman he loved safe. I also liked the secondary characters, Rachel, Laura's sister, who was the reason Laura was in Vegas in the first place, was someone I really did not like in the beginning because of how she treated Laura. However, Rachel redeemed herself when she went toe-to-toe with David. Tommy, whom I thought was just another spoiled son of a mob boss who only cared about self-preservation, surprised me when he risked his life to help David and Laura. The only down side to this book was that I wanted more. While the ending tied everything up nicely, I found myself wanting to follow David and Laura as they embarked on the next phase of their lives together.

A really good story that proves things are not always how they appear to be. Sophie is sweet, yet fiesty and loves unselfishly. Colt is an arrogant entitled member of the Ton whose who purpose it to prove Sophie a fraud.

I absolutely loved The Temporary Wife! Charity & Anthony were perfect for each other and they helped each other in ways they had not planned. A Promise of Spring I was not as fond of, there were too many frequent jumps between characters & plot lines. I found it annoying & confusing.

This was a pretty good book, Dax and Amber met in a very unconventional way, the result of which was a quick round of hot sex because they thought they were going to die, they did not. A year later they run into each other at the hospital and he finds out they have a 'souvenir' from their near death experience, a 3 month girl named Taylor. Amber fights Dax about being together because of trust issues her father caused. In the end she realizes she loves Dax just as he loves her. The thing I found a bit frustrating was Amber s refusal to believe Dax even though he had never mislead her.

I was given the chance to read this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I have to say, this book seemed to drag for me. It felt as though there was too much detail present in places that made the story lull in places. I enjoyed the story, of how true love received a second chance, and what Ellie and Nick did to avoid letting their hearts get broken again was testament to how much they truly loved each other and always had. I found Marcus to be funny and Lucia seems yo be a force to reckoned with, good supporting characters whom I would enjoy learning more about.

A good book, though a bit predictable. I did not like this as much as I did the Lucky Harbor series.

This was another good afternoon escape read. The attraction between thevlead chacters was present from the very beginning but both fought it for all they were worth. Evan has been crazy about Anna since she was sixteen, but fought it because she was underage, his best friends sister and since he was like a part of the Bernazi family, she was almost like a sister to him. After a one night stand things turn on their head when Anna finds herself pregnant three weeks later. Afraid of disappointing Anna's parents because they been like parents to him for years, Evan begs Anna to give him time before revealing to her parents that he is her baby daddy. A botched proposal reveals all and coukd be the end of things between Anna and Evan. I wanted to root for Evan the whole time, even when he was being an insensitive idiot and Anna made me hurt for her too.

So yeah, finished quicker than I thought, the only drawback about ebooks is that their number of pages very rary matches what is listed on goodreads, I suck at trying to figure out the conversions. Tag and Olivia are bound together by an accident at a sperm bank, she didn't want a nan involved in her life after being burned by her ex-fiance and he didn't want another woman in his life after losing hjs young wife three years before to sudden illness. When Tag found out the sperm be and Maria had banked to have a child of their own had accidentally been inseminated into Olivia and he had a four month old son his life seemed happier, but Olivia was scared witless, she had no intentions of sharing Flynn with anyone. Both of these characters were broken my love ( or what they thought was love in Olivia's case) that they are afraid to try again, fearing they cannot overcome anither loss and heartbreak. Fortunately for them, family and fiends see what Tag and Olivia refuse to see an work to get them together, but Tag's reluctance to let go of the past may not allow him the happy future he deserves with Olivia and Flynn.

This was the last in the Millionaire trilogy, and it proved to be just as good as the first two. The characters were well developed as they had been present in the first two books so the reader knew more about them than had this been a stand alone book. The onle down side is it was a bit predictable but it was a fun escape to read before I have no time to read once c,asses star back next week.

A very interesting read, the secong in the series. I read it very quickly as the quirky characters made it a fun read.