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ONLY A PROMISE by Mary Balogh

July 5, 2015

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Survivor’s Club Series, Book 5

Just to recap, this series focuses on a group of men who all sustained injuries during the Napoleonic Wars. The Duke of Stanbrook, having lost his son in that war, had invited this group of men with various serious injuries, and one woman who had the misfortune of seeing her husband tortured and killed, to recuperate at his estate. They spend a few years there healing, form an eternal bond, and after they have healed enough to return to the world, they meet up once a year at the estate to renew their bonds.

By this fifth book, four of the men have married – all but Ralph Stockwood, next in line to be the Duke of Worthington. He lost his childhood friends in the war, and suffers extreme guilt that he talked them into fighting. While physically scarred from the war, it is the emotional scars that have truly crippled him.

With the Duke more than 80 years old, his mother and grandparents are pressuring him to marry quickly and produce his own heir. But Stockwood feels cold and empty inside, and hesitates to make a union when he knows he will make his bride unhappy. Nevertheless, with his title and his money, girls are lining up for him.

The Duchess has a young companion, Chloe Muirhead, who has had quite a bit of scandal and heartache in her young life. At 27, she has no prospects at all. When Stockwood arrives for a visit, he overlooks her presence and has a frank talk with his grandmother about his marital prospects. The next morning, Chloe steels her nerve and makes him a proposal – a marriage of convenience. Neither wants nor expects love, but Chloe would like her own home and a family, and Ralph needs a wife and heir. They marry quickly, and prepare to face society.

Chloe and Ralph overcome many obstacles, which of course bring them closer together. Theirs is a slow growing love, which takes them both by surprise. The sex scenes were surprising to me, almost chaste and somehow seem fitting for the time period and this marriage – but that eventually changes.

Once again Balogh creates wonderful characters and a magical romance. I loved it.

7/15 Stacy Alesi

ONLY A PROMISE by Mary Balogh. Signet (June 9, 2015). ISBN 978-0451469670. 400p.

2 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Historical, Regency | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

BEAUTIFUL DAY by Elin Hilderbrand

June 25, 2015

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Narrated by Therese Plummer

I am (sort of) patiently waiting for the next Diana Gabaldon book on CD (A Breath of Snow and Ashes) to come in from the library, so I’m listening to other things while I wait. I really like Elin Hilderbrand’s books, at least the few I’ve read so far, so when this audio book became available, I grabbed it.

It is a heart-tugger for sure. The “beautiful day” in question is Jenna’s wedding day. The wedding is set at her family’s home on Nantucket, and the story involves everyone in the family.

Her mother Beth died while Jenna was in college, and she took off a semester to stay home with her. Beth left her a wedding notebook, basically a long letter to Jenna describing every detail of the wedding she would not be around to take part in. So of course, Jenna considers every word to be gospel, from the grassy green bridesmaids dresses to their dyed to match shoes.

Jenna is the youngest of four and the older three are much older, and therefore very close. The oldest is Margaux, whom Beth has decreed should be the maid of honor. Margaux has lots of drama in her life. She is a single mom, having divorced her surf bum of a husband, and is currently involved in a secret relationship with her father’s law partner, a man 30 years older than she.

Nick is single and a player, but nonetheless things get weird when he starts sleeping with Finn, Jenna’s best friend and one of the bridesmaids – who happens to be married but her husband is in Vegas at a bachelor party. The other brother is happily married with kids. They all squish into the Nantucket beach house they summered in all their lives and the drama begins.

There is more drama with Stuart, the groom. His mother Ann is the state senator from North Carolina and his father had left her for another woman several years earlier. They had a child together, but divorced soon after and his parents were married once again. Since his half-brother is in the wedding party, Ann decides to invite her husband’s ex, much to his disappointment. In reality, Ann simply wants to gloat that she got her husband back but of course that plan doesn’t work out exactly the way she wants it to.

I am a hopeless romantic and cry at everything wedding related; TV commercials, crazy wedding dances gone viral, and especially books like this one. I welled up on several occasions, not really a great thing to do while driving!

So much happens over this wedding weekend that the pages just fly by – or they would had I read it. Instead, I listened to it and while I really enjoyed the story, I did not enjoy the reader. I haven’t listened to enough audio books to pinpoint exactly what the problem is, so I’m just throwing that out there. I wished I would have read it instead of listening to it.

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

BEAUTIFUL DAY by Elin Hilderbrand. Back Bay Books (March 4, 2014). ISBN 978-0316099769. 432p.

Book on CD

Downloadable audio book (Audible.com)

1 Comment | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
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FOUR NIGHTS WITH THE DUKE by Eloisa James

June 23, 2015

Desperate Duchesses (Book 8)

Eloisa James is my favorite romance writer. She does historical romance, this one set in late 18th century England.

Fifteen-year-old Emilia (Mia) Carrington is in love with her father’s paramour’s son, Vander, the future Duke of Pindar. In her adolescent fantasy, she writes an incredibly sappy love poem that her father decides to share with the boy’s mother. The poem goes further than that, and Mia overhears Vander say some spurious things about her and the poem with his friends.

Fast forward several years and Mia is engaged to be married, but her fiancé strands her at the alter. Mia has lost her parents and her brother, and is guardian to her nephew but her Uncle wants to assume that guardianship and all the wealth that comes with it. The terms of her brother’s will state that she must be married within a year of his death or everything reverts to the Uncle.

Desperate, Mia blackmails Vander into marrying her. He thinks it’s because she is still in love with him and he decides teach her a lesson. He agrees to marry her but makes her sign a contract that he will only bed her four times a year and she must beg for it. And so the games begin until Mia realizes that she really is still in love with him and he slowly understands that he feels more than lust for her.

This is another wonderful romance, filled with likeable characters, enough drama to make the pages fly by and as always, lots of passion. I loved it.

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

FOUR NIGHTS WITH THE DUKE by Eloisa James. Avon (March 31, 2015). ISBN 978-0062223913. 384p.

1 Comment | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Historical | Permalink
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LOVE IRRESISTIBLY by Julie James

June 21, 2015

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I am really enjoying Julie James’ FBI/US Attorney series. I’ve read the first one, Something About You, book 3, About that Night, and book 5, It Happened One Wedding. I managed to get my hands on book 4, and I was very happy I did.

This is a terrific series, and one of the things I like best is that they don’t need to be read in order. But if you, there are delicious little nods to the previous books, so it’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned. The series centers around the Chicago U.S. attorneys’ office and the FBI agents that they work with so closely. Love Irresistibly centers around assistant US attorney Cade Morgan.

Cade’s specialty is bringing down dirty politicians, and anyone who knows Chicago politics knows that can be a full time job. He has the goods on the state senator, but knows there will be a meeting at a swanky restaurant, and he wants to get that meeting on tape to cinch the conviction. To do so, he needs permission and assistance from the restaurant.

Enter Brooke Parker, general counsel for the Sterling restaurant group. Brooke and Cade are trading barbed quips from the get go, but with her help, Cade manages to get what he needs. But he owes her and she is soon collecting when her company finds out someone hacked into their account.

I love that James creates characters that we can care about. They are real people with real problems and it’s fun watching them work things out.

I really enjoyed this book and now have to hunt down the last book in the series, which is my case is book 2, A Lot Like Love. Berkley, are you listening? Stay tuned…

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

LOVE IRRESISTIBLY by Julie James. Berkley; First Printing edition (March 2, 2010). ISBN 978-0425251195. 304p.

2 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
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SOMETHING ABOUT YOU by Julie James

June 13, 2015

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So as regular readers know, for some reason I rarely start a romance series at the beginning. And Julie James’ FBI/US Attorney series was no exception. I read book 3, About that Night, and loved it. Here’s my review.

Now I’m going back to the beginning and read book 1, Something About You. Actually, I listened to the audiobook, couldn’t find the printed book. Karen White is the reader and she did a great job and I really enjoyed it.

U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde lives in a big old house that she inherited. The floors need to be redone, so she gives herself a little mini-staycation and checks into a swanky hotel. Much to her surprise, the paper thin walls brings amorous sounds into her bedroom for most of the night, keeping her awake and making her cranky. Things finally calm down, she falls asleep and then it starts over again. Exhausted, she complains to the front desk then watches out the peephole to see what happens.

What she doesn’t expect is that the woman next door has been murdered, and she saw the murderer, or at least his back, as he left the room before the hotel staff arrives – quickly followed by Chicago’s finest and then the FBI. And sadly, the one FBI agent with whom she has history – he thinks she dumped years of his hard work when she wouldn’t take a crime lord to trial, and that she got him transferred out of state for a few years. She thinks he’s an arrogant jerk, albeit a really good looking man. They are not on the best of terms but they are about to become very close – as the only witness, her life is in danger and it is his job to protect her.

This is a great romantic suspense novel. Frankly, the murder mystery is quite secondary to the romance, but it all works brilliantly. A fun and sexy read by one of my new favorite authors.

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU by Julie James. Berkley; First Printing edition (March 2, 2010). ISBN 978-0425233382. 336p.
Audible Audio Edition. Listening Length: 10 hours and 3 minutes. Tantor Audio. Audible.com Release Date: June 29, 2012

3 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

BEACH TOWN by Mary Kay Andrews

May 28, 2015

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Once again I am kicking off my summer reading with Mary Kay Andrews and she is setting the bar high!

Greer Hennessy is a movie location scout looking for an old time Florida beach, which is getting real hard to find. But when she stumbles into Cypress Key in the Florida Panhandle, she knows she’s earned her paycheck. It’s lovely, with a pristine beach, one motel, and an old boarded up casino that is the perfect spot for the producer’s dream explosion.

But Greer runs into a problem her first night there, and his name is Eben Thibadeaux. He is the town mayor, engineer, hotel towel boy and more – and he is not about to let some Hollywood movie people destroy his town. Cypress Key already had a run of bad luck when the local paper mill polluted the area then left town, laying off everyone. The town is struggling and Eben is determined to bring it back from the brink without blowing anything up, especially an historic landmark like the casino.

But Greer is determined and sweet talks her way into almost everything she needs, with bribes taking care of what the sweet talk won’t. But blowing up the casino is becoming a real issue on both sides when the movie bigwigs find out how far over the budget has gone.

Greer and Eben are meeting and fighting regularly, but also fighting a strong attraction to each other and they lose that fight for sure. Andrews excels at creating characters that are full realized and believable, and their story just draws you in, making this a true page turner.

The romance builds and things get really hot in this sweet, sexy beach read that is the perfect way to kick off summer. I loved it!

5/15 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch

BEACH TOWN by Mary Kay Andrews. St. Martin’s Press (May 19, 2015). ISBN: 978-1250065933. 448p.

2 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction | Permalink
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RULES TO CATCH A DEVILISH DUKE by Suzanne Enoch

May 7, 2015

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Scandalous Brides Series (Book 3)

As usual, I’m starting a series somewhere in the middle of it and I don’t mind a bit. Suzanne Enoch is a new writer to me, and one that I will be reading again.

Sophia White is a heroine that can win anyone over, even the Duke of Greaves. One of his closest friends married one of her closest friends, so the Duke invites Sophia to spend Christmas with her friends, and many others, at his estate.

Sophia is the offspring of a Duke and his maid, and society turns up their noses at her. Her father paid for her education but never really acknowledged her, forcing her to make her own way in the world. She gets a job as a card dealer at a gentlemen’s club called the Tantalus Club, which has a bit of a reputation. When her father finds out, he is determined to get her out of his way before she can embarrass him. He arranges a marriage with a vicar far outside of London society, and the vicar is delighted – he considers her his project, reforming a Jezebel.

So when Sophia receives an invitation to the Duke’s home for the holidays, she decides to have some fun before she has to marry the vicar. On the way there, the bridge collapses and the Duke saves her. None of his other guests can get to his estate until the bridge is fixed, and that takes weeks, leaving the two of them, plus the Duke’s snob of a sister, to pass the time.

The Duke is entranced with Sophia, and she with him. Among the other expected guests, however, are several marriageable women. According to the Duke’s father’s will, he will lose his estates, money & title to his sister’s young son unless he marries very quickly and produces an heir so he invites this group in hopes of finding a bride. Sophia knows she is not in the running but nonetheless wants to have some fun. And they do, but they also fall in love. Can the Duke marry an illegitimate bride?

I loved the humor in this book, and there was a lot of hot sex, but it was the characters that really won me over. I am looking forward to reading more of Suzanne Enoch.

5/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

RULES TO CATCH A DEVILISH DUKE by Suzanne Enoch. St. Martin’s Paperbacks (September 25, 2012). ISBN 978-0312534530. 352p.

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ABOUT THAT NIGHT by Julie James

April 26, 2015

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FBI/US Attorney Book 3

As per my usual, I started this series out of order with book 5 because it was on so many best romances of the year lists for 2014, and I loved it. So I scoured the library shelves and all I could find was this one, book 3, so I went for it.

This is one of those series that I don’t really think needs to be read in order. Each book stands alone and I’m sure they are all related somehow but I haven’t tried to figure it out yet but I’m guessing it has something to do with the name of the series. Once I get my hands on the rest (I begged my library to purchase them) I’m sure it will all make perfect sense.

Rylann Pierce is in college when she meets a billionaire’s son, Kyle Rhodes, at a bar. They have a great time and make plans for the next night, but he never shows. Rylann soon learns his mother had been killed but they never do get together again.

Rylann becomes a tiger in the US Attorney’s office in San Francisco, but when her boyfriend asks her to move to Rome with him with no marriage proposal, she realizes they want different things and she dumps him and moves back home to Chicago. She lands a job in the US Attorney’s office there and her first case involves the “Twitter terrorist,” a hacker who brought Twitter down for two days when his girlfriend dumped him via a tweet. The terrorist is none other than Kyle Rhodes.

Off to an inauspicious start, they both quickly realize that the feelings they had that long ago night were still there. Can a US attorney fall in love with an ex-con and make it work? Can a cyber hacker fall in love with the an attorney who works with the lawyers that convicted him? Of course! But not without a lot of bumps along the way and of course, some hot sex.

Another winner from Julie James.

4/15 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch

IT HAPPENED ONE WEDDING by Julie James. Jove (May 6, 2014). ISBN 978-0425251270. 304p. Kindle

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THE ROYAL WE by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

April 24, 2015

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This is a clever contemporary romance that is very loosely based on the British royals, Prince William & Kate. In this story, the heir to the British throne is Prince Nick, and the commoner is Bex Porter, an American doing a year at Oxford. She rooms on the same floor as the Prince and is soon dating one of his closest friends. When that doesn’t work out, her friendship with the Prince turns into something more.

In this fairy tale, Bex has an identical twin sister Lacey, and she is the one who wants fame and fortune. But Bex ends up with more than she can handle, hounded by the paparazzi, trying to deal with Prince Nick’s cold asshole of a father, and an even colder grandmother who happens to be Queen.

I learned some stuff like you should always apply your hair extensions gradually, so you don’t go from skanky hair one day to full head of gorgeous locks the next. And if you sew weights into your hem, you’ll never have to worry about a wind blowing up your dress. I learned how the upper crust shops and parties, and how the spare to the heir has his own set of problems.

It’s the characters that shine here, from the Prince, his family and his friends to Bex and her family. This book is filled with lots of dish, lots of dirt and lots of fun. I loved it.

4/15 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch

THE ROYAL WE by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan. Grand Central Publishing (April 7, 2015). ISBN 978-1455557103. 464p.

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IT HAPPENED ONE WEDDING by Julie James

April 17, 2015

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FBI/US Attorney Book 5

After I recently read a contemporary romance that didn’t thrill me, I was determined to find one that did. A friend recommended this Julie James book so I did a little research. This book was on so many best romances of the year lists for 2014 I quickly got on board. And am I glad I did – I found a new author that I will continue reading. Plus this is book 5 of a series which means there at least 4 more I can get my hands on.

Sidney Sinclair has just moved home to Chicago from New York when she lands the career move of a lifetime – director of a huge investment fund. It’s good timing too, she recently dumped her fiance after she found out he was cheating on her and was ready to get back in the dating game.

Sidney’s younger sister Isabelle is thrilled her big sister is home, especially after she finds herself pregnant and engaged with a quick wedding on the horizon. Isabelle and Simon may not have known each other long, but they were both sure they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. The happy couple invites their siblings to dinner so they can all meet.

Simon’s big brother Vaughn is a bad ass FBI agent who is gorgeous and knows it. He is a player, and Sidney can spot his type a mile off. They butt heads right from the get go but will annoyance turn to love? You bet, this is a romance and it is hot, hot, hot!

I loved this fast paced romance. The characters were believable, their stumbling blocks realistic, and having a wedding as a backdrop just added to the charm of this book. I’m looking forward to reading more of this author.

4/15 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch

IT HAPPENED ONE WEDDING by Julie James. Jove (May 6, 2014). ISBN 978-0425251270. 304p. Kindle

3 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Permalink
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