THE LIE AND THE LADY by Kate Noble

January 7, 2016
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Read on to find out how you can win a copy of the first book in the series, The Game and the Governess!

Winner Takes All, Book 2

In the first book of the series, the Earl of Asbury trades places with his secretary, John Turner, for a bet. While posing as the Earl, Turner falls in love with the visiting widow, Leticia, Countess of Churzy, but as soon as she finds out he is just a secretary, she dumps him and storms off.

This sequel follows John Turner and the Countess. She has been traveling, trying to stay one step ahead of all the stories about her misalliance. While in Paris she meets a lovely older gentleman, Sir Barty, and quickly agrees to become his wife.

Sir Barty brings her back to his small hometown, where she meets his daughter, a young woman who is a serious botanist in need of some guidance and a husband. Leticia is sure she can make a go of things but is forced to wait the requisite number of weeks while the banns are read in Church. Much to her horror, she finds herself face to face with John Turner.
TLTL TLL Teaser 1 Final
Turner’s mill is in this same small town, and his mother is great friends with Sir Barty, so they are often forced together. Something is afoot with the mill, and Turner is determined to get it running again but is quite distracted by his Letty. Try as they might to keep away from each other, sometimes true love is like magnetic north, and the pull is simply irresistible.

This was a terrific story with humor, pathos, and a bit of mystery in addition to the heated romance. I am looking forward to the next book in this series!

To win your own copy of The Game and the Governess, the first book in the “Winner Takes All” series, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “GOVERNESS” as the subject.

You must include your U.S. street address in your email.

All entries must be received by Jan 21, 2016. One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your prize will be sent by the publisher.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

Good luck!

1/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE LIE AND THE LADY by Kate Noble. Pocket Books (December 29, 2015). ISBN 978-1476749396. 384p.

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THE GAME AND THE GOVERNESS by Kate Noble

January 7, 2016
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Winner Takes All, Book 1

Read on to find out how you can win your own copy!

The Earl of Ashby, Lucky Ned to his friends, is sure he garners all the attention he does because of his innate charm. His old army captain, John Turner, is a mill owner down on his luck after his mill burns down, not once, but twice. Turner is working for the Earl as his secretary, trying to save enough to reopen his mill.

When the Earl is informed that he needs to make a decision about selling his mother’s home where he grew up, he decides to visit it one more time before he sells it. He hasn’t been back since he was a boy. His secretary will accompany him, and then Turner makes Lucky Ned a bet he can’t resist. They will trade places, Turner impersonating the Earl, and the Earl posing as Turner. Furthermore, the Earl has to get a woman to fall in love with him without revealing who he really is. If he wins, Turner will earn enough to reopen his mill, and if he loses, the Earl gets the mill.

There are rules and such, but the bet is on and they arrive in the small town to meet the family they will be staying with, and their visiting friends. Ned, posing as Turner, is determined to win the bet and the governess will fit the bill. Or will she?

I picked this up because it was on many of the best romances of the year lists and I liked it, but I found the back and forth and who was who a bit confusing at times. I did like the humor and the characters, and it all came together really well and I can see why it ended up on those lists. The sequel, The Lie and the Lady, just came out and I liked that one even more.

To win your own copy of The Game and the Governess, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “GOVERNESS” as the subject.

You must include your U.S. street address in your email.

All entries must be received by Jan 21, 2016. One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your prize will be sent by the publisher.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

Good luck!

1/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE GAME AND THE GOVERNESS by Kate Noble. Pocket Books (July 22, 2014). ISBN 978-1476749389. 432p.

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WHAT SHE LEFT by T. R. Richmond

January 6, 2016
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Alice Salmon has died. Whether it’s an accident or suicide is yet to be determined, but the death is one that touches many including Professor Jeremy Cooke. Cooke wasn’t one of Alice’s teachers, but he was smitten by the coed nonetheless. His affection is thanks in no small part to the long-running affair he’d had with her mother decades ago.

Cooke, an anthropologist, makes a project out of collecting bits and pieces of Alice’s life. Tweets, Facebook posts, texts, emails… all of the things that seem to make up a person’s public persona in the twenty-first century. What emerges from the study is not a girl who is troubled to the point of taking her own life, but a girl who has been threatened with violence and danger. Could it be that Alice was murdered and that Cooke holds the key to the killer’s identity?

T. R. Richmond’s debut is a great twist on the epistolary novel. There is no straight narrative in the book at all. Instead, letters between Cooke and his longtime pen pal provide a framework and insight into Cooke’s own thoughts and interactions with the various players in the story. The other characters’ stories come through via the various social media and correspondence gathered and arranged as part of Cooke’s project.

The “chapters” make for the kind of pacing you’d expect out of a suspense driven plot but the story itself is more of a drama than a true thriller. As a result, is the kind of book I believe will appeal to thriller readers as well as fans of more character-driven fare.

1/16 Becky LeJeune

WHAT SHE LEFT by T. R. Richmond.  Simon & Schuster (January 5, 2016).  ISBN 978-1476773841  320p.

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ANGELS BURNING by Tawni O’Dell

January 5, 2016
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Dove Carnahan is the chief of police in a small town in rural Pennsylvania. Once on the fast track with the state police department, she abruptly left for her small hometown, much to the disappointment of her mentor, Nolan. They still work together and occasionally sleep together, so when a teenage girl’s body is found half burnt, Chief Dove welcomes the help.

The cause of death wasn’t the fire but the fire did enough damage to delay identifying Camio, the shining light of a terribly dysfunctional family of drunks, drug addicts and worse. Camio’s boyfriend is the immediate suspect, as are members of her family, but everyone has an ironclad alibi – or so it seems.

Chief Dove herself comes from a similarly hideous background, but her and her sister seemed to have risen above their mother’s reputation as the town whore and her subsequent murder to become successful, worthwhile members of the community.

This is a small town full of ugly secrets that slowly unfurl, and the prose here has some truly lovely moments, but at heart this is a psychological thriller that is almost impossible to put down.

Copyright ©2016 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

1/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

ANGELS BURNING by Tawni O’Dell. Gallery Books; Library Edition edition (January 5, 2016).  ISBN 978-1501132544. 288p.

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THE ART OF SINNING by Sabrina Jeffries

January 4, 2016
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The Sinful Suitors, Book 1

I finally started a series with the first book, and now I can’t wait for the next!

Jeremy Keane is an American hiding out in Europe. After his father’s death, he and his sister inherited the family’s hugely successful mills, and she is running the business and doing a good job of it.

Jeremy has always wanted to be an artist, and is making a name for himself in England – and also a reputation as a rakehell. (I just love these old English words that pop up in all these historicals.) Known for frequenting bordellos, Jeremy is in search of his next model but can’t seem to find her there. He attends a ball and spots a woman across the room that he is just drawn to. She is Lady Yvette Barlow, and her brother Edwin is her protector.

Edwin has been having a rough go of finding a husband for his sister. Keane talks him into a portrait, which Edwin thinks will portray her in a marriageable way. Really.

Keane is completely smitten with the lady but believes it to be lust, although he’s never felt this way before, not even with nude models. The Lady is trying to find her debauched and imprisoned brother’s bastard, and enlists Keane’s help.

Both sets of families have secrets, and ferreting out the truth leads Yvette and Jeremy down a rocky road fraught with hot sex and eventually love. Great characters make a great love story and that is the case here. I stayed up late into the night to finish and was happily rewarded with a terrific ending.

1/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE ART OF SINNING by Sabrina Jeffries. Pocket Books (July 21, 2015). ISBN 978-1476786063. 400p.

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THE FIRST HOSTAGE by Joel C. Rosenberg

January 3, 2016

FIRST HOSTAGE ROSENBERGA J. B. Collins Novel

Joel Rosenberg has demonstrated an ability to write fiction which is centered upon his analysis of what is actually happening or going to happen in the volatile middle east. The First Hostage successfully follows this trend and continues to be centered on the rise of Isis, which Rosenberg described in a previous book, The Third Target.

J.B. Collins, a reporter for the New York Times, had been covering Isis as an emerging offshoot of Al Qaeda. This book’s opening finds him covering an attack by the terror group on Amman, Jordan, in which he puts the entire world on alert about Isis. During the attack the leaders of Israel and Palestine are critically injured, the president of the US is missing and presumed captured, and the king of Jordan has to fight for his kingdom and his very life.

Rosenberg places Collins in the most important salient of the ensuing battles. In the course of his coverage of the events, Collin’s Israeli love interest, Yael, meets up with him again as she appears carrying out action for the benefit of her country as well as getting the injured Israeli leader home for medical care. The two find that in the midst of all the horror they are more and more attracted to each other and will probably work side by side in future novels.

The blame for the success and advance of Isis falls on Collins due to his incendiary stories about them and the horrors they perpetrate in moving forward. He is pursued by the US and finds he has to work with the Secret Service in finding the president as well as clearing his own name.

Rosenberg’s description of Isis and their aims and methods is spot on with what the west is discovering about the terrorists as publicity shows them beheading victims, destroying towns, killing innocent civilians in their path and looking to martyr themselves in order to kill their perceived enemies. He paints the group as completely uninterested in negotiating with their enemies, only killing them.

The writing is hypnotizing in its jet fast progress through the action.  An all nighter does not do it justice since it’s a non-stop express ride. The ending certainly sets the stage for the next book in this series, and readers will await it with bated breath.

1/16 Paul Lane

THE FIRST HOSTAGE by Joel C. Rosenberg. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (December 29, 2015).  ISBN 978-1496406156. 448p.

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ONE-EYED DUKES ARE WILD by Megan Frampton

December 30, 2015
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A Dukes Behaving Badly Novel

Lady Margaret Sawford is a scandal. She’s writes a short story serial for the newspaper, refused to marry her parents choice, and they’ve disowned her. The only family she has is her sister, the Duchess. Lady Margaret is on a crusade to help the poor women of London, often putting herself in harms way.

While at a ball, she sees a man who grabs her attention – he’s tall and good looking, and wears an eye patch which she finds exciting. Most people find the Duke of Lashem very intimidating, and he’s quite proper and takes his ducal responsibilities most seriously. Until he meets Lady Margaret.

The Lady convinces him he needs adventure, and he finds himself accompanying her on her visits to the poor, and falling in love. She finds herself adventuring sexually with him and she falls in love. They adventure together until the happy ending.

I loved these characters, they were imperfect and real. This is the third book of a fun series.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

ONE-EYED DUKES ARE WILD by Megan Frampton. Avon (December 29, 2015). ISBN 978-0062412782. 384p.

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MASTERED by Maya Banks

December 29, 2015
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The Enforcers #1

Evangeline is struggling to make ends meet. When her first serious boyfriend dumps her, her friends arrange for her to get all dressed up and go to a fancy club on a VIP pass. The bouncer doesn’t want to let her in but has no choice, and of course she runs smack into the ex, who treats her abominably. Some of the staff come to her rescue.

Drake Donovan keeps an eye on his establishment via security cameras, sees the fracas and is immediately entranced with Evangeline. He asks his bouncers to bring her upstairs to him and one thing leads to another, and Drake falls hard for his “Angel.”

Drake is a dominant and introduces Evangeline to the lifestyle very slowly. He buys her extravagant gifts and helps her family out, and she falls in love with him. Until the night he brings some business associates home…and Evangeline disobeys him, leading to a shocking ending.

The next book in the trilogy, Dominated, doesn’t comes out until May and hopefully will resolve the cliffhanger. Maya Banks’ fans (and Fifty Shades fans) will love this.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MASTERED by Maya Banks. Berkley (December 29, 2015). ISBN 978-0425280652. 368p.

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THE LAST ORIGINAL WIFE by Dorothea Benton Frank

December 27, 2015
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I have been hearing about this author for years and finally picked up a book at random. It was a quick read, and an enjoyable one. Set in the South Carolina Lowcountry, a place I’ve never been that is described so beautifully, I can’t wait to go.

Wes and Les have been married forever and live in Atlanta, Georgia. They have two grown children who are making their way in the world, albeit not in the most positive ways.

Wes is a domineering and secretive husband with a bit of a temper. Not abusive, at least not physically, but certainly demanding and shouty. Les has been a stay at home mom and housewife for all of their marriage, just the way Wes wants it. They belong to the local country club and the two couples they’ve been closest with have undergone some changes. Harold left Danette for a much younger woman, and Paolo’s wife died, and he’s with another much younger woman. Les has nothing in common with these women, making their couple time together uncomfortable at best.

Les’s brother Harlan is gay and lives in the South Carolina Lowcountry, where Les grew up. Wes is completely homophobic and has forbidden Les from having her brother stay with them or even visiting him. One day at the club, the two young trophy wives get into a cat fight, and Wes yells at Les for “allowing” it. She is pissed, leaves the club and goes home.

Les finds the file cabinet open that her husband has always kept locked, and starts looking around. She is dumbfounded to find a financial statement in both their names with a balance of over $22,000,000. Her husband leases a new Mercedes every few years, but Les has been driving used cars and scrimping and saving for years, never realizing how wealthy they were because her husband never told her. She really loses it then and decides to run away from home.

Les goes home to her brother, who is off to Italy for a month. She spends some time alone, and then with an old high school boyfriend. Learning about the deception in her marriage forces Les to do quite a bit of soul searching, with interesting results. And she rekindles her relationship with her brother.

It was refreshing to read about a woman who was turning 60 and still had a life. I enjoyed this and will be reading more of this author.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE LAST ORIGINAL WIFE by Dorothea Benton Frank. William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 1, 2014). ISBN 978-0062132475. 368p.

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4 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Women's Fiction | Permalink
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THE DUKE’S DISASTER by Grace Burrowes

December 26, 2015

DUKE'S DISASTER

Noah Winters is the Duke of Anselm, and he promised his parents that he would marry by his 32nd birthday, which is rapidly approaching. He has been courting Marliss, but after several weeks she agrees to marry someone else. Noah does not want to dishonor his parents’ memory, so he asks Marliss’ companion, Lady Thea Collins, to marry him. She has been chaperoning him and Marliss and he feels comfortable with her.

Lady Thea has also lost her parents. She cares for her younger sister and her brother, who is old enough to take care of himself but instead is just running wild, leaving Lady Thea to negotiate her own wedding agreement. She is reluctant to marry the Duke, but he sweetens the pot by agreeing to allow her younger sister to live with them and to give her a good dowry, and that is enough for Lady Thea.

These two virtual strangers marry and then learn to love one another. Beginning with a proposal was a really interesting twist on the romance genre, and watching this couple learn about each other and fall in love was truly heart warming. I loved it.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE DUKE’S DISASTER by Grace Burrowes. Sourcebooks Casablanca (April 7, 2015). ISBN 978-1492605300. 448p.

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