Christmas Review: Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish by Grace Burrowes

Book Description

A luminous holiday tale of romance, passion, and dreams come true from rising star Grace Burrowes, whose award-winning Regency romances are capturing hearts worldwide.

All She Wants is Peace and Anonymity...

Lady Sophie Windham has maneuvered a few days to herself at the ducal mansion in London before she must join her family for Christmas in Kent. Suddenly trapped by a London snowstorm, she finds herself with an abandoned baby and only the assistance of a kind, handsome stranger standing between her and complete disaster.

But Sophie's Holiday is About to Heat Up...

With his estate in ruins, Vim Charpentier sees little to feel festive about this Christmas. His growing attraction for Sophie Windham is the only thing that warms his spirits-but when Sophie's brothers whisk her away, Vim's most painful holiday memories are reawakened.

It seems Sophie's been keeping secrets, and now it will take much more than a mistletoe kiss to make her deepest wishes come true...
(Description from Goodreads)

Genre: Romance, Historical Romance

Series: Windham #4, Duke's Daughters #1
Does the series need to be read in order? No

Review

Liked
• Our hero and heroine meet over an abandoned infant, and even though I'm not a huge kid person, I found the whole setup to be adorable and heartwarming without tipping over into saccharine toothache territory.
• Sophie and Vim are great characters though oddly enough I felt that the hero was more fleshed out than the heroine in this novel. That's unusual for a romance novel, but I liked it.
• I enjoyed the kind-hearted meddling of Sophie and Vim's families. It sometimes verged on annoying but for the most part, it was fun.
• This book wasn't as heavy on the Christmas as The First Love Cookie Club, but I don't think it could be put at another time of year either. The holiday was well-integrated in the plot.

Liked Less
• I was a little confused toward the middle of the book because I didn't understand why Sophie was behaving the way she was. Her behavior is partially explained later by one of her brothers, but that didn't provide a complete resolution to my bewilderment. It's frustrating to not have a better view of what's going on inside the heroine's head. I would have liked to have known more about her and especially her motivations.
• Sometimes it was hard to keep track of who was who among Sophie's brothers. The three who were traveling together were referred to by both name and title so it took a few scenes for me to sort everyone out.
• The trauma that kept Vim from visiting his family home was rather silly. His response was a complete overreaction.

TL; DR

A heartwarming Christmas read for historical romance fans though it could have used a little more of the heroine's point of view.

Rating

Knight of Swords
A decent read. I will likely read other books in this series.

Disclosure: I purchased this book.

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Christmas Review: Season for Surrender by Theresa Romain

Book Description

Honor Among Rogues

Alexander Edgeware, Lord Xavier, has quite a reputation—for daring, wagering, and wickedness in all its delightful forms. But the wager before him is hardly his preferred sport: Xavier must persuade a proper young lady to attend his famously naughty Christmas house party—and stay the full, ruinous two weeks. Worse, the lady is Louisa Oliver, a doe-eyed bookworm Xavier finds quite charming. Yet to refuse the challenge is impossible—he will simply have to appoint himself Miss Oliver’s protector…

Mischief Among Misses

Louisa knows her chance for a husband has passed. But she has no desire to retire into spinsterhood without enjoying a few grand adventures first. When Lord Xavier’s invitation arrives, Louisa is more intrigued than insulted. And once inside the rogues’ gallery, she just may have a thing or two to teach her gentlemen friends about daring…
(Description from Goodreads)

Genre: Christmas, Historical Romance

Series: Seasons #2
Does the series need to be read in order? No

Review

I did not finish this book. I personally don't see the point in slogging my way through something I'm not enjoying. That being said, I do see value in a DNF book review as long as the reviewer explains why they quit.

Why I DNFed:
• I felt that this novel could have taken place at any time of year. The Christmas element was very tangential to the story and could have been replaced with any other kind of event.
• I didn't feel the chemistry between the hero and heroine.
• The reader is repeatedly told that Lord Xavier is a scoundrel and a rake. Apparently, he likes to make weird bets with his cousin which doesn't really peg my Scoundrel-O-Meter. We are never really shown his scandalous doings so his supposed reformation lost a lot of impact. There were no prior misdeeds with which to compare his good behavior.
• I didn't buy Louisa's amazing insight into Xavier's character. After a few days of observing and interacting with him in a limited context, she knows that he's really using his rake/scoundrel image to cover up his soft creamy center. The author does show Louisa's keen observation in another context, but to me, at least in Xavier's case, it still felt like she was making assumptions instead of gaining insight. I hate when people make assumptions about my character whether they're true or not, and I really can't understand how Xavier was be okay with it.
• The plot moves along slowly. Even when things started to spice up a little bit between Louisa and Xavier, it was too late and still too slow to keep my attention.

TL; DR

The hero and heroine didn't have enough chemistry to make up for a slow-moving plot and the hero's unconvincing personal transformation.

Rating

Three of Swords
DNF (Did Not Finish)

Disclosure: I purchased this book.

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Review: The Way to a Duke's Heart by Caroline Linden

Book Description

Charles de Lacey, Lord Gresham, is running out of time, running from his responsibilities, and running from love.

Destined to be a duke, Charles de Lacey has led a life of decadent pleasure, free of any care for propriety or responsibility. It comes as a terrible shock to learn that he might be stripped of everything, thanks to his father's scandalous past. He has no choice but to find the blackmailer who would ruin him—and his only link to the villain is a woman who may be part of the plot…

To save his fortune and title, he vows he'll stop at nothing—in fact, he's all too eager to unravel the beautiful, tart-tongued Tessa Neville. She intrigues him and tempts him like no other lady ever has. With only his heart to guide him, and keenly aware that his entire future is at stake, Charles must decide: is she the woman of his dreams, or an enemy in disguise?
(Description from Goodreads)

Genre: Historical Romance

Series: The Truth About the Duke #3
Does the series need to be read in order? No

Quick Synopsis

Tessa is in Bath to investigate a possible investment for her brother. Charlie is in Bath to uncover a blackmailer who threatens his wealth and title. Their paths merge as Charlie realizes that Tessa might lead him right to the answers he's searching for.

Review

Liked
• Tessa has a dark past but not super-dark. Her actions and interactions are proportionate to the level of her trauma. I find this a refreshing change from heroines who make really dumb outlandish decisions or put up insurmountable barriers based on something that should not haunt them that long. "OMG I can't ever love anyone because I peed my pants in front of my third grade class and I was so embarassed!!! Alas, although you are perfect for me, I can't ever share my life with another because... PEE!" Tessa's not like that. She lets down her walls when it's appropriate for a strong person to do so.
• Charlie is a fun hero. I really enjoyed his relationship with his father and his realization that they are much more alike than either of them wanted to admit.
• The progression of Tessa and Charlie's romance was realistic and fun to read. No insta-lust here but there was also just the right amount of them losing control when they admitted their feelings. I liked the balance.
• There was more to Mrs. Bates than I first thought and the sly revelation of more of her character made me smile.
• The blackmail plot was well-paced and handled though I didn't really feel as much suspense about it as I thought I should. This is probably because I haven't read the previous books and am coming in at the end of that particular arc.

Liked Less
• I thought Charlie's turnaround from indolent rake to efficient committed dude might have been a little too fast. I think that hearing more of his point of view regarding that change might have made it seem less precipitous.
• Tessa's whole "I'm not cool-kid enough to be a duchess" hangup was a bit silly. That being said, it thankfully didn't take too much to get her to set that crap aside.

Rating

King of Swords
A very enjoyable read that I feel happy recommending to other readers. I will likely read the other books in the series.

Amazon | B & N

Disclosure: I won this book in a contest. A positive review was not a requirement of winning. No compensation was offered or received in exchange for a review.