Tag: Regency

Golden Angel-A Season for Scandal

Golden is back with another Regency era spanko book. A Season for Scandal is the second book in the Deception and Discipline series, which all focus on a group of 4 friends, who are all either debutantes or that age. This book is Josie’s.

Josie has been madly in love with Joseph Stuart for years. He, however, is going to get engaged to someone else, so she has been dealing with that all Season. She’s been lauded as a Diamond of the First Water and an Original, which all means she’s really pretty, charming, witty, and a prime catch. She’s also sneaky, working with her friends Mary, Lily, and Evie, trying to catch a spy. Evie is the niece of the spymaster of England, who also happens to be Joseph’s father. She knows things, and is currently undercover, and tasks her friends to find things out for her.

One night, at a ball, Josie gets a note that purports to be from Joseph, asking her to come meet him out in the garden, he needs her help with a mistake. She thinks that he’s going to tell her that he made a mistake and is madly in love with her, and they are going to get married. Instead, what happens is some man attacks her and rips her clothes. Elijah, Joseph’s older brother, sees it happening, and goes to rescue her. Right before the society gossips run out, totally ruining Josie altogether.

Elijah, when he gets home, talks to his brothers and his father, and makes a decision. He decides that he wants Joseph to be happy with the woman he loves, so when Josie’s father comes to the house to see what’s going to happen, Elijah says that he will marry her and make it right.

Elijah assists his father in his spying, and he doesn’t see any reason that being married to Josie is going to slow him down. After all, he’s not going to stand for any of her nonsense, and it’s not like this is a real marriage anyway. (Famous last words, right?)

Josie and her friends have the right idea, you know. People always underestimate women. They definitely did then. These ladies are more than what they seem, and people only see little bits of fluff who look pretty and act like they don’t have a thought in their heads except fashion. And there is nothing wrong with being that person, you do you. That’s what Josie and her friends want everyone to think, though. I do like Josie. I do think she might be a little impetuous, but she does it out of the good of her heart. She wants to do the right thing, which is to stop the trait0r.

I kind of wanted to smack Elijah off and on during the book. He made some annoying choices. I can understand why he made the choices that he did, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying. I think, partly, that he is a man of his time, so he doesn’t see beyond what he expects to see, even though he’s known Josie for many years. That’s part of why I wanted to smack him. He is a good man though, and a determined one. He is also honorable.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I know someone who is in on the plot.

OK, that’s all for today! Go check it out! Happy reading!

Top 10 MM Books of 2020 pt. 1

I am persnickety on some things when I’m reading, but whether it’s MM or MF isn’t one of them. I will read MM, MF, FF, and everything in between, in whatever combinations and numbers possible. For me, it isn’t just about what parts go into which places, although that is nice, it’s also about the connection between the characters, and that connection doesn’t matter if you are male, female, trans, non-binary, or gender fluid. And technically, this should be classified as LGBT instead of MM, because one of the books has an NB character. But, the books on this particular list focus on the more male side, so I’m going to go with MM. So, in no particular order, let’s get to the first part of my list.

Susan Hawke-How to Forgive

How to Forgive (my post) is the 6th book in Susan Hawke’s Lovestrong series. This is Susi Hawke’s contemporary pen name, under Susi, she writes omegaverse. I would really put this book as a campanion book to How to Heal, which is book 5, more than just the next book in the series. It involves Grayson, who is non-binary, who has come home after college and is trying to build their life back up in their hometown. Gray finds their ideal job, but their bossis Clark, their old bully. I loved this because we really get to see Gray’s journey and what they have gone through. We’ve seen Clark’s and how he tried to change, so I loved seeing the other side, and how Gray works to build their relationship with the big bad biker. I love Susi’s books, no matter what name she’s writing under.

Piper Scott-Single Dad Sundays

Piper writes omegaverse, and one of her series is called the Single Dad Support Group. It’s a bunch of guys who were single dads who got together in an online forum and gave each other a lot of help. There are chats throughout each of the books, and on her page every Sunday, Piper would have a question that a reader asked, and the dads would all reply to it. Well, Piper pulled all those Sunday chats and turned them into this book. It’s funny as hell, and I will never see the word placenta in the same way again.

Kai Butler-The Earl and the Executive

This is a Regency romance. But it takes place in the future. In space. Yeah. You wouldn’t think that those 3 things fit together, but Kai made it work, and made it work well. You get an impoverished Earl who is looking for a wealthy spouse to marry. It’s a lot of fun, and you get to see spaceships set against the ton.

AJ Sherwood-How to Shield an Assassin

AJ writes some funny books while still keeping up some intense action, and that’s what she did here. This is the first book in a series, all focusing on different guys in this friend group. You see them all show up in each book, so you really have to read the books. This one is about Ari, who is an assassin, who is out doing his job when a little girl asks him to help her out with her step-dad. He takes care of the dude and then adopts Remi, as one does, you know.

Make sure to read the content warnings on this, because they are funny af.

Alice Winters-How to Vex a Vampire

Alice is another writer like AJ. (my post) Her stuff is funny as hell, she writes outrageous characters, and you still get these intense stories that drag you in. This book is the first one in a series, and you have to read them in order. Each book is about a new couple, but you see everyone in every book. This series is an urban fantasy, and has vampires, both born and created, and focuses on a vampire police squad. I honestly want to just take Finn home and keep him.

This is another one where you should read the content warnings.

OK, that’s the first part of my Top Ten MM books from last year. Check back tomorrow for more. 🙂

Golden Angel-A Season For Treason

Golden is taking us back in time to the golden age of historical romance, the Regency, with A Season For Treason. If you have read some of Golden’s other historicals, you wll recognize some of the names in this book.

We start with Mary. She is in her first Season in London, being squired around by her cousin. He’s looking for a bride, and Mary knows the perfect one for him, Lady Arabella, but she’s being courted by Hartford, called Rex.

One year later, Mary is about to go back for her second Season. Her cousin and Lady Arabella got married, now her aunt and uncle are all focused on her. Not just that, but her friend Evie has asked for her and their friends Josie and Lily to go to London for the Season. She has a good reason for this. You see, Evie’s uncle is the spy master, and he’s on the hunt for a traitor and one who planned an assination. Evie is going to help find out who it is, and she needs the help of her friends. She also tells everyone that Hartford runs a secret society, and the society might be involved in the issue.

Mary, Lily, and Josie go out on their Season and start to find information. One night, Mary follows Rex into the garden at a ball, wanting to see if he is meeting with someone suspiscious. He catches her, and kisses her.

Rex does indeed have a secret society. It’s a very debauched secret society. Pretty much anything goes in this secret society, and on this night, he’s watching all the things go. He’s also bored. He’s not interested in any of the women that are there, even ones he’s played with before. Rex decides that maybe he’ll get a wife. They will be able to come play together, he’ll get his heir, and it will all be good.

Then, at a ball, he meets Mary, well, meets her by kissing her in the dark in the garden.

I like Mary. I think that she is very smart and very tricky. I think that she just expects to be overlooked, so she expects everyone will overlook her, which makes it possible for her to hide in plain sight. If your normal is to feel overlooked then you just settle into that. I do like that Rex really sees her though, and sees the side that she’s been working on hiding.

Normally I would say that the female main character is a little naive about love and marriage, but in this case, I think that it’s Rex. He didn’t realize what his feelings were, but he just thought that he’d be able to act as normal, even after the marriage, and he was just so surprised by having any other kinds of feels.

I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Golden Angel-Marriage Training

Golden has given us a delicious Regency era spanking romance with Marriage Training. And I’m pretty sure that my marriage may benefit a little bit from this story, because it was pretty damn hot.

Vivian is the daughter of a country baron. Her family is rather poor, which is worrying, since she’s going to be making her debut soon. And a debut at this time is fucking expensive. There’s balls, luncheons, teas, all of which require new dresses. I mean, it’s worth it if you manage to make a good marriage, but first you have to get out there and get out in front of everyone’s faces. And Vivian is a shy, retiring, modest miss, who doesn’t relish being the center of attention. However, being the eldest daughter, she knows her duty. At her distant cousin Mary’s wedding, she meets a beautiful man outside of the retiring room. They only talk for a moment, but when he finds out her age, he tells her that he will see her in the future.

Gabriel wants a beautiful submissive wife, who will have the same kind of love that his father and step-mother have. When he goes to his good friend George’s wedding to Mary, he sees a beautiful young woman. After meeting her, he asks George about the Mrs. Cunningham’s Finishing School, which is where his Mary went.

Finishing schools are there to give young ladies a final polish and to make sure that they can run a household and be a credit to their husband. Except, Mrs. Cunningham’s school goes one further step. She has a very private curriculum for select students. She has a marriage training course, for men who want some very particular traits in their brides. It’s that course that Vivian is enrolled in, sponsored by Gabriel, as well as the rest of the classes she takes at this school.

I loved how Gabriel and Vivian are together. He’s so sweet and tender toward her, even when he’s is being all dominating and such toward her. It’s obvious when they are together, how much he loves Vivian, how much he wants to protect and cherish her. Vivian is a very sweet young woman, and you can see how much she wants to please Gabriel and make him happy. Every interaction between the two of them is beautiful, in my opinion.

This is a sweet book, filled with spanking, and romance. It’s totally possible to do that, and that’s definitely what Golden Angel does here. I would like to see more in this world, specifically Emily and Astoria.

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I love how Vivian set down Astoria the second time. It was impressive, and done in a way that I wish I could emulate. I’m not that subtle.

OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

 

Sue Lyndon & Celeste Jones-Papa’s Captive

Sue and Celeste are taking us back to Talcott House where young ladies are trained and brought up to be the perfect little brides to their Papas. This is the 4th book in the series, and they can all be read as standalones. The 4 women are all friends and they are all referenced in each other’s books, but you aren’t going to be lost if the first one of these books you pick up is Papa’s Captive.

Lord Caldwell has been courting his beloved Rosie for quite some time. They are betrothed, but she’s nervous about setting a wedding date. When he doesn’t show up to see her in some time, Rosie is very worried that her hesitation has driven him away. It doesn’t help that she already has a secret that makes her worry that her betrothed would abandon her if he found out. It’s a terrible secret.

On the day that two of the other girls at Talcott house start poking at her because Lord Caldwell hasn’t been there for a while, all of Rosie’s anxiety pops up and she ends up smacking Lettie and rolling around on the floor, fighting with her. But, just as she’s about to be punished, Lord Caldwell shows up. The two of them are going to go out walking through the gardens, but Lord Caldwell has other plans. He gives a gift to Garland so that she’s distracted and then he spirits Rosie away to Gretna Green to get married. You see, back in the day, England had very strict regulations concerning getting married. But Scotland, you see, did not. Gretna Green was the first Scottish town over the border and so many, many people eloped there. Luckily for Lord and Lady Caldwell, Gretna Green was a quick ride away from the familial castle in Scotland, so after the 2 day trip to Gretna Green and a quick marriage, they were able to spend their first night as a married couple in their own bed. But of course, nothing is ever all that easy, now is it?

I like Rosie. She’s sweet and loving. She also deals with a lot of anxiety, and I can totally relate to that one. And, while she works really hard at trying to be a good girl and a proper lady, I think that she definitely has some fire in there. I mean, she tried to punch one of the other girls and threatened to punch Garland. And by the way,  I totally think that Garland was trying to get with Lord Caldwell. I would’ve wanted to punch her too. Lord Caldwell seemed a little flighty at times, but that started to calm down, and I liked him a lot.

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The secret about Rosie’s father wasn’t what I was expecting it to be, I mean, I did expect something criminal, but not that particular thing. I expected something more gruesome, I think.

Lord Caldwell’s cousin is a raging bitch. Maybe she would benefit by a few trips over someone’s knee with a belt and a whole lot of time sitting in a naughty chair or in the corner. Or, you know, being bricked up in a wall. You choose.

OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out, along with all the other books. Happy reading!

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