My Heart's Desire

My Heart's Desire by Kate Pearce R

Caroline Lyndhurst was widowed in a boat accident that left much of her body covered in burn scars, and even though her time of mourning is up, she is very self conscious and continues to live in seclusion at her sisters house. When her sister throws a house party, Jasper Lord Mansell arrives and he has plans to bring Carolin out of her self imposed exile. He had been in love with Caroline for years and now that she is widowed and a suitable period of mourning has past, he is determined not to let his second chance slide by. Caroline cannot believe that anyone would be interested in her, but Jasper uses every possible opportunity to lure Caroline into private corners where he wastes no time in showing her that her scars do not stop him from wanting her. Caroline must learn to accept herself before she can allow someone else to truly love her and she is able to do that with Jasper's help.

This was a novella in the same anthology as "The Gift" and I admit that that story is quite the tough act to follow, but leave it to Pearce to manage splendidly. I loved that Caroline was insecure about her appearance and had something to genuinely be insecure about. I especially loved that Jasper didn't ignore her flaws, but embraced them and saw them as a part of her, and not something just to be overlooked. He was an amazing romance novel hero and I love the second chance story line that he'd been in love with her for years. The sex was incredibly hot, as expected, and Caroline and Jasper worked together incredibly well and made a perfect couple.

The Gift

The Gift by Samantha Kane

Jeremy and his best friend, Rhys, were taken as prisoners of war at the Bey of Algiers, and were tortured while awaiting payment of their ransom. In prison, the two become even closer, but they connect over their mutual love of Jeremy's wife, Cordelia. Cordelia is in love with her husband, but she has always been in love with Jeremy as well, and when the two return she is overjoyed. The situation between the three of them begins awkwardly as Cordelia wants both men, and both men are interested in her. Jeremy and Rhys have agreed that they will both be Cordelia's lovers and both men love each other as much as they love Cordelia. Cordelia is embarrassed about her desires, and Rhys is terrified that Cordelia will reject him, but Jeremy knows his wife enjoys carnal activities enough that she will welcome Rhys into her bed. On their first night back Cordelia is worried that she will hurt her husband by making her desire for Rhys known, but luckily for her, Jeremy is definitely a take charge kind of guy, and he has no problem making his own desires known. Just as he had predicted, Cordelia wants to share her love with both of the important men in her life, and the three of them agree to engage in polyamorous relationship.

This was a very short novella that was quite obviously leading up to only one thing, but the way in which the story got to the inevitable threesome was very well done. There truly was a relationship between the three characters; between Cordelia and Jeremy, Cordelia and Rhys, and even Jeremy and Rhys. That made the eventual happily ever after more realistic and understandable and made it seem like they really could have their happily ever after. Rhys had demons that scared him, and Jeremy had his fair share as well, and Cordelia had enough guilt over her feelings for Rhys, that the three of them were all able to heal each other. The threesome was incredibly hot, and there was one scene with just Jeremy and Cordelia that was just as sexy. Jeremy was pretty dominant throughout both scenes, which I understood as he was watching his wife have sex with another man. I really liked finding this historical erotica, that went beyond just sex and managed to squeeze character development and true relationships into the story.

A Kiss for Midwinter

A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan

As a young girl Lydia Charingford is seduced by a married man and becomes pregnant, and only the doctor and his assistant, Jonas Grantham, know the truth. Years later, Lydia is living at home with her parents after an engagement is called off and Jonas is the town doctor and decides it is time to marry. Without remembering her from the long ago night, he knows she is the one because of her happy nature and ability to not fawn over one of the most eligible men in town. Lydia knows exactly who he is and has no intention of marrying him and is determined not to let his intrusive into her life make her unhappy. Jonas pursues Lydia for months and nothing he does seems to win her over so he makes a deal with her: he will show her around and if she can find the happiness in everything he shows her she wins a forfeit, but if he wins then he gets a kiss. Jonas takes Lydia on his rounds; to visit a prostitute with several kids, a young boy with a broken leg, and Jonas' senile father who is a hoarder. When she wins he agrees to never speak to her again, but the wager has brought up the past for Lydia and she finally has to confront her feelings about the miscarriage. Jonas has always known that Lydia is the perfect match for him and now Lydia is coming to the realization that the outspoken and blunt Jonas will always be there for her.

I absolutely loved both of these characters and thought they were so perfect for each other. I loved that Lydia was a genuinely happy person and enjoyed life. I liked that she had issues from her past that she had to work through and that Jonas was the one to help her through them. I loved how blunt Jonas was about sexuality and the truth of the world and the conversations they had were hilarious, but also showed how well suited they were and were so honest and forward thinking. Jonas was wonderful and could see himself truthfully, including his flaws such as his compartmentalizing everything in his life. His relationship with his father was touching and so beautiful to read about, and I liked that Lydia helped him through some of his problems. There was some sexy moments, but the book was far more about their emotional connection and while the sex was hot, it was not the focus of this book at all. Overall this was a wonderful book with two very well written characters who had a beautiful relationship. Milan's writing was spot on as usual, if a little slow moving at times.

Season for Surrender

Season for Surrender by Theresa Romain

Lady Louisa Oliver is more comfortable with books than people, so her London season wasn't quite a success even though she did end up engaged to a Marquess. Unfortunately said marquess fell in love with Louisa's step-sister and the broken engagement and ensuing marriage caused quite the scandal. Alex, Lord Xavier, has his own reputation as a dissolute rake and he is infamous for never losing a bet placed in White's betting book. His cousin, Lord Lockwood, issues a challenge he can't refuse (for fear of losing his reputation) and he agrees to keep a respectable lady at his decidedly unrespectable holiday party for two weeks and they agree on Lady Louisa. Louisa is excited to get out of her sister and brother-in-law's house and wants to enjoy herself and explore Xavier's famed library. To win the wager, Xavier must keep his cousin from scaring Louisa away and he begins to realize he has made a huge mistake. He finds that he cares about her reputation and finds himself drawn more and more to spending time in the library. Louisa overhears Lockwood and Xavier and quickly learns about the bet and it strengthens her resolve to stay at the house party and have an adventure.

The huge party provides plenty of opportunities for Louisa and Xavier to spend time together under the guise of engaging in party activities. While working in the library they uncover a coded a cipher about the history of Xavier's family and they decide to work together to discover the secrets of the past. He realizes that she is far more intelligent than the average woman and she realizes that he wears a permanent mask to convince others that he has no care for others. She wants Xavier to let go of his reputation and be a better person and he knows that if it will ever happen that she is the woman who will help him. But Lockwood remains bitter about their families' pasts and is determined to get his revenge on Xavier by any means necessary, including taking Louisa down with him. Xavier is forced to choose between his reputation and the woman he loves and finds that he can face anything as long as Louisa is by his side.

Louisa was a likable heroine for being an awkward blue stocking who wanted to find some way of making her life more adventurous and her determination to avoid becoming a boring spinster. Nonetheless, I found her rather bland and boring, perhaps because there is not enough inner dialogue or because the writing style just did not add any excitement to her character. Xavier was really not that different from many romance novel heroes; a rake whose reputation has been exaggerated and wears a mask and secretly years to be wanted for who he his. I felt like too much was made of this fake reputation and it made him seem rather childish for continually seeking challenges and wagers purely to maintain this reputation. I did like that they spent quite a bit of time together, but there was a lot of boring and pointless verbal sparing, and it was remarkably unexciting. There was some sexual tension, but it was barely a simmer, and was not consummated until one very brief, lukewarm scene at the end that I skimmed.

The house party was a fun experience and I liked the myriad characters who livened up the story a little bit, even if their many drunken exploits served merely as an excuse to show how Xavier was growing tired of this lifestyle in the most heavy handed way possible. Lockwood was a nice two-dimensional villain who added some spark to the story even if the scene where he gets his comeuppance was absolutely ludicrous and abrupt. I believe I had the biggest problem with the writing style of this book; it's short and yet it took me a long time because it was so unengaging and the characters did not draw me in at all. The romance was lacking and I did not feel a spark between the two protagonists and really felt like this book lacked enough plot to make a real book or a lengthy review.

Rating: I did not enjoy this book but it did have some interesting side characters and did not cross into absolutely awful territory too often.

Season for Temptation

Season for Temptation by Theresa Romain

James, Viscount Matheson, decides that he should become engaged quickly after ascending to his title and being hounded by his family to help restore respectability to the scandal ridden family. Louisa Oliver is beautiful and kind and he knows she will make a perfect wife for him so after a very short courting he proposes and she agrees. Louisa knows that she will never fit in with London society and would prefer a quiet life retiring in the country, but she also knows that it is her duty to marry well. James decides to visit his wife's family in the country and after meeting Louisa's stepsister, Julia Herrington all of his well ordered plans are thrown out the window. Julia is loud, funny, brave, and outgoing, everything that her perfect, well-mannered step sister is not and she doesn't know what to do with the immense attraction she is feeling for her soon to be brother-in-law. She wants her sister to be happy and would never do anything to jeopardize Louisa's happiness so she tries to hide her feelings and he tries to follow suit.

The tension between them in palpable and all it takes is one stolen moment for everyone to realize that James and Louisa are not meant to be together. But both of them feel guilty for the problems that have arisen and after meeting James' family Julia wonders if she is the right woman to help restore the family's good name and worries that the ton will never accept her or respect their marriage because of the way it began. Confusion ensues when Julia wonders if James has the depth of feelings for her that she has for him and she retreats to her family for comfort after being embarrassed by the ton. James must prove to Julia, and the world, that Julia is the woman for him and that it does not matter what the ton thinks or how their relationship began because they are in love.

Julia is supposed to be the atypical heroine, chattery, healthy appetite, loud, and very child-friendly and while it can be cute and vaguely naive, her inane chatter became oppressive and I really do not find that kind of thing amusing in the least. As someone who spends all day with kids I don't think it's totally endearing when someone is overly familiar with other people's kids and wants to spend tons of time with children. There was one scene when she went back for thirds at a meal and then looked at her plate in surprise that she had eaten everything and it just made her seem incredibly unintelligent and ridiculous. It really did not take me long to realize that this was not a character I was going to fall in love with. James was a very real character and a nice change from the brooding hero and I felt like the conflict he went through was written of in a very deft manner and he just seemed like a very genuine person.

Their relationship progressed well throughout the novel as they dealt with the obstacles in their path together. There wasn't really much steam at all and I definitely would not describe it as hot and given the circumstances it was just as well that they weren't going at it like rabbits. Also, I kind of thought of Julia as very child like so I didn't really want to read about her being sexi-fied anyway. I really liked the love triangle aspect of the story and how everyone was so caring of everyone else involved and there was no mean spiritedness. Maybe a little bad guy in the story would have been nice and added a little flair to this otherwise very straightforward story, though. I did not like that Louisa and Julia represented such complete opposite ends of the spectrum and both just seemed unrealistic and unlikable. The book was a very fast read and was well written.

Rating: A promising story but it was killed by a heroine who just drove me nuts and was a poor example of an anti-heroine.

A WInter's Scandal

A Winter's Scandal by Candace Camp 1207

Thea Bainbridge has never thought she needed more in her life than being sister to the local village vicar and helping him write sermons and help run the town as needed. But when she learns that Gabriel, Lord Morecombe, has suddenly become a landowner in the area and moved into his new house she can't help but remember their brief kiss nearly a decade ago when she had been in London for her sister's come out. Thea herself had never had a come out and had thus been relegated to spinsterhood, but she is still embarrassed and upset that Gabriel does not even recognize her. Gabriel has relocated to the country with the company of several of his friends, including Thea's cousin, Ian who is eager to escape his new wife, Emily, for the holiday season. While readying the church for the nativity scene Thea discovers a baby in the manger and, after seeing a brooch with the Morecombe crest, immediately assumes that he is Gabriel's son and wastes no time in confronting Gabriel and in the ensuing argument her hurt over their forgotten kiss is exposed.

Gabriel recognizes the brooch as belonging to his sister, Jocelyn, who absconded from her fiance, Lord Rawdon, a year ago and has not been heard from since. He teams up with Thea to help discover who left the baby in the manger, who the parents are, and where Jocelyn is. Matthew is an easy child and it does not take long for both Thea and Gabriel to fall in love with the cutie and they find themselves in each other's company quite a bit. Gabriel does remember Thea and cannot figure out how she could ever think she was forgettable and he has every intention of making sure she knows precisely how unforgettable she is and how much he desires her. When Matthew is kidnaped they have to race to save him from the kidnapper and a night spent alone in a cabin brings them even closer together. Even as they raise Matthew and work to find out what is happening, Thea believes that she will never be anything more than a distraction. When all is said and done they are left together to discover how they will make a life together work so that they can share their love with everyone, including Matthew.

Spinster sister's of vicars have been appearing a lot lately in romances I feel like and I admit that I don't really have a problem with it because I like the idea of a woman who has had responsibilities and work to do, finally finding love with a man who is equal to her and who appreciates her even while she has gone unnoticed for so long. Thea was intelligent and polite and respected by her community and wanted a family but had convinced herself she was fine with her life because she didn't believe she had a chance for anything more. She had built up the kiss between her and Gabriel because it was the closest she had come to intimacy and she was crushed when he did not remember it. She was obviously very caring because she took in Matthew and wanted what was best for him even if it meant she would have to give him up to his biological family. Gabriel was a town rake although we didn't really get too much evidence of this, which is fine with me, but he proved himself with his dedication to Matthew and his sister and with the way he treated and behaved so lovingly to Thea.

Their relationship was very well established as they spent a lot of time together and got to know each other and proved that they would work so well together. I really enjoyed reading about them together because there were just so many little moments that all added up to a really compatible couple who belonged together. They complimented each other very nicely as she grounded him and brought out the best in him and he gave her confidence in her own numerous abilities. There was some sex, not too much, but enough to give some much needed steam and establish some serious physical connection between them and I felt like it was a really important part of their relationship. The baby plot was a very important part of the story and was well blended with the romance but I did not get the sense that it was taking over and overshadowing the romance at all. It was a huge mystery and they just built on each other until I was very much confused but I really liked that I could not guess right away what was going on and the resolution was a complete shock to me.

Rating: A very enjoyable book with two compatible characters and a great mystery plot that was near perfect if it had been a little more fun or sexy.

A Christmas Waltz

A Christmas Waltz by Jane Goodger 821

Lady Amelia Wellesley falls in love with Carson Kitteridge when he comes to visit England as part of a Wild West travelling show. He woos her and tells her all about his slow brother and his big ranch in Texas and asks her to marry him with the agreement that he will send for her and they will marry. But after several months Amelia realizes his letter probably got lost in the mail and forges a letter from Carson to present to her older brother and his wife and heads off to Texas with dreams of her new life. She arrives in Slow Fork to find that things are nothing like the way that Carson presented to her. Carson does not own a ranch, Carson is not interested in marrying her, and his brother, Dr. Boone Kitteridge, is far from slow. Boone is horrified that his brother led this beautiful woman on about his prospects with the promise of marriage and when confronted Carson hightails it out of town. With nowhere else for her to turn Boone offers to let Amelia stay with him in the apartment at the back of his general store.

Amelia does not know how she is going to get out of Small Fork since her maid ran off with her money, and while she finds it hard to come to grips with the unexpected turn her life is taking, she finds that Boone is a bright spot in an otherwise dismal looking future. Boone and Amelia settle into a semi- domestic life as she helps him run his store and they spend their evenings teaching her to cook and take care of a house. Her brother realizes something is wrong and brings his wife out to meet Amelia and when he discovers the sham Carson has perpetrated he is furious and demands something be done to save her reputation. Boone steps forward and Amelia realizes she has no choice but to accept and after the marriage is performed her brother and sister-in-law leave and she has to make herself fit into her new life. Boone knows that Amelia does not want to stay in Texas and does not want to be married to him, but he wants to make her happy and is willing to spend his life doing that. Amelia realizes she is married to a caring and wonderful man and they both have to trust in their love for each other.

While I am not normally a fan of Western historicals, this book immediately grabbed my attention because of the blending of English and Western cultures and the promise of some angst because of the circumstances surrounding her marriage to Boone. I had mixed feelings about Amelia because she was naive enough to fall for Carson's charm but she was also smart enough to quickly realize when she had been fooled once she was confronted with the truth and did not wallow in self pity. I did enjoy that her motives for romanticizing other people and being overly excited when the possibility of true love were explained and tied in to her past, without being dissected until I was bored to death. Boone was a little sedate for a romance hero, but he made up for it by being so caring and conscientious of Amelia and her feelings. His past was explored in detail, but it went a long way toward explaining the man he was and why he acted in that way. He was protective about the people in his life and made big sacrifices to make his friends feel safe and to make Amelia happy.

Their relationship progressed very slowly during the course of the book, which was for the best as I would not have liked it if she had gone from love with Carson to Boone without some major reflection and some time to process what had happened. The little scenes with them working together were beautifully written and I really enjoyed all the angst that accompanied their falling in love. It did get a little exhausting at the end when they were both worried that the other did not return their love, but I felt like it was more realistic in this instance because of the circumstances surrounding their courtship. There was not that much sex, but again it made sense, and it was romantic and sexy if not hot. I loved the descriptions of life in a small town and that said small town wasn't overly romanticized against the big bad city. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of life in London and life in Small Forks and the way that both of them handled their new lives and worked with each other. I did feel like past characters were thrown in my face, even if they weren't actually present- which made their "appearance" even more ridiculous.

Rating: A very good book with an interesting setting with two characters who had to work through a lot in order to achieve their happily ever after.

A Christmas Promise

A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh 1223 

Randolph Pierce, Earl of Falloden, inherited massive debts along with his title and he has postponed an engagement with a lovely young lady of the ton because he hopes to make a little money first. But John Trasnmore, a very wealthy coal merchant, buys up all of the debts and threatens to call them all in if Randolph does not marry his daughter, Eleanor. Eleanor has fancied herself in love with her distant cousin, Wilfred, for years but when he writes to inform her that their relationship has no future, she thinks she might as well fall in with her father's plan. She has had horrible experiences with members of the ton who regard her class as vulgar, and she harbors little hope that she and a titled gentleman can ever get along. John Transmore is dying and his last wish is for his daughter to marry into the ton and he survives just long enough for Randolph to promise to live with Eleanor for a year and to consummate their marriage on the wedding night. 

Things do not go well on their wedding night as she is defensive and he can't help but think that she is cold and emotionless. Before their marriage he had invited several friends up to his hunting lodge and he decides to keep those plans and allow Eleanor to invite her own family. Still feeling like she will never belong in the ton she decides to invite her entire extended family- partly to show Randolph that she is indeed a vulgar social climber. Randolph is at first put out, but it isn't long before he is enjoying seeing his new bride in such different surroundings; she is suddenly full of life and happiness. And she is beginning to see that Randolph is not so judgmental and he fits in so well with her boisterous family with no signs that he dislikes having them. Now they both know that they want something more out of their relationship but worry that the other will not feel the same way. It takes a wonderful Christmas Eve of merrymaking and joy and a little miracle for them to move past their bad beginning and into the future. 

I know that it is highly unlikely that the social classes really did intermingle back in the day, but I am still a sucker for romances that feature people from different hierarchies. Who doesn't like a little bit of a fairy tale? And of course it leads to some great emotional moments where one of them feels like he/she is not good enough and the other realizes that the separations in their class don't really matter. This book had so many of those elements in a tried and true plot device where the merchant father buys his daughter a title. What made this so well done was that the story was told pretty equally from both points of view so I was really able to see them as they both underwent changes and had new thoughts about their spouse and their relationship. Eleanor's excuse for giving in to her father's desire for her to marry a lord was a nice little difference from the usual and her relationship with Wilfred lead to some more great emotional scenes between the two of them as they argued over her old feelings. 

At times I was a little frustrated by how quick Eleanor and Randolph were to think the worst of each other, even after sufficient time together to have shown them both that they had been wrong about each other from the beginning. Eleanor especially was far too defensive and she really did come across as cold and unfeeling quite a bit and I found myself empathizing more with Randolph than Eleanor. In typical Balogh style the sex was incredibly bland and rather ambiguous as to whether Eleanor ever got any of her own satisfaction. And some of it was incredibly painful to read about as there was a complete absence of feeling and it seemed like they were both just trying to hurt each other. The Christmas element of the story was done very well with an emphasis on family and togetherness and not so much on the religious elements. Of course there were a couple little side romances going on that were quite fun and I wish we'd had a little more from them. As usual I liked her writing style and the book was certainly fast as it was only 270 pages long. 

Rating: A typical Balogh novel with a slow and muted relationship and very little sex, but it was well told and a fast read. 

Scandal of the Season

Scandal of the Season by Christie Kelley 1130

When Anthony Somerton discovers that his deceased mother is actually alive and well and running her own brothel, he is distraught. He runs straight into the arms of the captivating orange seller and in a drunken stupor he has sex with her and while his memory of the night isn't the best he knows that he raped her. He asked for help from his illegitimate half sister, Sophia, a famous seer, who promises to tell him the orange seller's name if he helps her arrange marriages for her friends. When that is done, she reveals the name, but it is to Victoria Seaton, the plain and spinster-ish vicar's daughter who runs the orphanage. It does not take him long to discover that Victoria is actually Anne Smith, his lovely orange seller, and her status has changed dramatically since then. He thinks the only way she could have made enough money is through pickpocketing, which he knows she is quite adept at, and whoring herself and he wastes no time in enlisting her in his next government mission.

Anthony has been hired to go to a house party hosted by the Earl of Farleigh and intercept a note being given to Lord Hardy, but he cannot go without a mistress because Farleigh is intensely jealous of the relationship between his wife, who used to be a prostitute, and Anthony. Victoria agrees to help Anthony in exchange for money she wants to use for a good Christmas for her orphans, but she hopes that she can keep her feelings for Anthony under control. This is more difficult than she imagined as the two spend time together and when she learns he believes he had coerced her ten years ago, she sets him straight and admits that she had wanted it as well. As her feelings grow she becomes desperate to end their charade before she completely falls in love with him and so she decides to try to help him by getting closer to Hardy. Anthony is furious that she puts her life in danger, but admires her willingness to help him and he realizes that his feelings for her have changed. But there are still spies out there for the two of them to confront before they can safely admit their love.

Kelley has definitely been an up and down author for me as I have really enjoyed a few of her books, but she has also produced a dud in my opinion. So I really had hopes that this would turn out to be one of the amazing ones, but was unfortunately disappointed. I liked that Victoria had completely remade herself with the help of a madame and that her life was dedicated to charity- especially since she enjoyed her work with the orphan and did not do it out of some need to help the little people. I was a little confused as to how she would have friends in the upper echelons of society and I was a little irritated by how frequently Kelley's previous characters made appearances in this novel. Anthony was interesting because he had some really great family issues such as an illegitimate half-sister, a mother who rose from the dead, and an overbearing father. I would have liked to have heard more about these relationships and really more about what mad Anthony tick on the whole and how he became involved with secrative government plots and spying.

Victoria and Anthony's relationship was pretty much based on anger, frustration, and downright mean-ness, especially for the first half of the book. While this is pretty common practice, it bordered into icky territory when it came to some rather violent kisses, especially considering their sexual encounter ten years earlier. While it wasn't rape, the very fact that he thought it was, made it just as bad in my opinion because he continued doing it even when he thought she didn't want it. Overall I wasn't really a fan of their interactions, even when they got closer, I still felt as though it wasn't enough. Normally I like her writing style but it seemed rather sloppy here at times, like she was just trying to chug out another book. The spy plot was boring for most of it and it just seemed to be a half hearted method of bringing Anthony and Victoria together and I did not really get into it until the very end when there was a great little surprise that I had never guessed.

Rating: Definitely not Kelley's best work with sloppy writing and rather boring plot and angry protagonists.