Once Upon a Christmas Eve made me smile. Adam is a bit of a scoundrel, but has a soft heart, and even though he definitely deserves his reputation with women, he never "ruins" anyone. Sarah has run into at least one rake before, knows Adam and know his type and doesn't want anything to do with him. So of course, in between their verbal jabs and avoiding each other, they fall in love. They make a good couple who will keep each other on their toes.
This is a novella, so the romance progresses quickly. To be honest, I wish the story had been longer. I would have liked to see more of Sarah and Adam and had their relationship progress a little more evenly. I love the Christmas house party setting and especially the last scene. I may have to read more of Hoyt's books soon.
This was a wonderful Christmas romance — sweet and fun and a tad bit steamy....
In a lot of ways, Once Upon a Scandal is a typical romance. She's beautiful and spirited; he's sexy with secrets. She, however, is dirt poor and shunned by (most) of her previous friends due to a her father's scandal and death. He, while seemingly a rich playboy, is actually a domestic spy, keeping an eye on the rich and powerful and it's that bit of intrigue that makes the novel a step above ordinary for me. Benjamin enlists Jane's help, and she, feeling like she really has nothing to lose, agrees. Jane, with the help of Benjamin and an old friend, reinvents herself to help lure the person who stole secret documents relating to the war out into the open.
I guess this is the second in the series, but I felt we were introduced to the characters and they're backgrounds well. I assume the first focused on a different couple and featured Jane and Benjamin as secondary characters.
The attraction between them...
I have to admit that at first I was a bit annoyed with the male lead, Lowe Magnusson. When he first meets Hadley Bacall, he just keeps going on and on about her rear-end. Thankfully he eventually moved on to noticing her as a person. And they are a good match.
Lowe is a con-artist, liar and a thief, but he has a truly good heart. Who doesn't love that type of bad boy, the kind that's just bad enough to be interesting but isn't going to intentionally hurt the people he cares about? Hadley has spent her life proving she's worthy and trying to keep her spirits at bay. Because they do want to kill someone, they're just waiting for her to get angry enough to let them. And she comes close - Lowe is quite good at pushing people's buttons.
While this is a romance, Lowe and Hadley are also on a mission. They need to collect the pieces of an artifact, but...
Title: Bitter Spirits (Roaring Twenties #1)
Author: Jenn Bennett
Read by: Amy Landon
Published: May 14, 2014 by Tantor
Genre: Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Add: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository | Audible
Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown's illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.
Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who's more comfortable with guns than ghosts. Unfortunately for him, he's the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida's supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.
On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise...
Bitter Spirits is not perfect. Like too many romances, it falls into cheesy...
Title: I Adored a Lord (The Prince Catchers #2)
Author: Katharine Ashe
Published: July 29, 2014 by Avon
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 4½ out of 5 stars
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Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Three very different sisters beguile society with their beauty and charm, but only one of them must fulfill a prophecy: marry a prince. Who is the mystery Prince Charming, and which sister will be his bride?
All that clever, passionate Ravenna Caulfield wants is to stay far away from high society's mean girls.
All that handsome, heroic Lord Vitor Courtenay wants is to dash from dangerous adventure to adventure.
Now, snowbound in a castle with a bevy of the ton's scheming maidens all competing for a prince's hand in marriage, Ravenna's worst nightmare has come true.
Now, playing babysitter to his spoiled prince of a half-brother and potential brides, Vitor is champing at the bit to be gone.
When a stolen kiss in a stable leads to a corpse in a suit of armor, a canine kidnapping,...
