Book Review: Alaskan Renegade

 Author:  Kate Bridges

Title:  Alaskan Renegade

Publisher: Harlequin Historical

Publish Date: Nov 1, 2009

Buy:  Amazon

Book Blurb: 

In need of a bodyguard on her mission into the Alaskan wilderness, nurse Victoria Windhaven is shocked to recognize the hired gun as none other than Brant MacQuaid--a man she had thought never to see again! Brant, now a notorious bounty hunter with a burning passion for justice, had once betrayed her.

But closely confined in the stagecoach by day, and even more closely combined under the stars by night, Victoria can't help but dream of turning this renegade into ideal husband material....

Review: 

A good Harlequin can pull me out of a reading slump. I've always been a fan of historical romance. Not so much westerns, but when I was looking for something different an a little light after reading a pretty emotionally draining book on the holocaust this book seemed to fit the bill.

A bounty hunter/bodyguard, a nurse and a would be doctor are making a pilgrimage to Alaska. Victoria and Brant have a history, as he was once supposed to marry her sister. There's definitely some bad blood there, but there are also sparks too.

Then there's Connor. You know he's not the one for Victoria, but he's lovable, especially as its hard to see him ever really becoming a doctor.

There journey is not without trouble and it really shows some growth in the characters. (especially Connor)

Victoria is spunky and very good at her job. Brant knows what he wants out of his life too. It makes for some interesting clashes between the two along the way, but when they come together you know they are perfect for each other even though they have their reservations because of their initial differences.

Oh and did I mention danger? Cos there's a real baddie waiting for them on Glitter Mountain.

This was a great quick read that was a little out of my comfort zone but one I truly enjoyed.

Rating: 4 flowers

Rachel's Random Resource's Book Tours Book Review: The Captain's Disgraced Lady

The Captain’s Disgraced Lady

Who is Captain Harry Fanton?

When Juliana Milford first encounters Captain Harry Fanton, she finds him arrogant and rude. There’s no way she’ll fall for his dazzling smile! Her visit to Chadcombe House was always going to prompt questions over her scandalous family, so she’s touched when Harry defends her reputation. She’s discovering there’s more to Harry than she’d first thought...

A man so plagued by the demons of war, he’s sworn he’ll never marry, no matter how tempted...

Purchase  - getBook.at/DisgracedLady

About Catherine Tinley

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Catherine Tinley writes witty, heartwarming Regency love stories. She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech and language therapy, NHS management, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now works for Sure Start. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, and dog.

Website www.catherinetinleycom

Facebook - www.facebook.com/CatherineTinleyWriter

Twitter - www.twitter.com/CatherineTinley

Review: This is the kind of historical that I have always loved, Regency! Juliana is making a trip with her mother to visit her newly married friend Charlotte in England. 

On there way there they encounter Captain Harry.  At first, I wasn't fond of Juliana. She was over the top domineering when it came to her mother and she wasn't very understanding 

When she arrives at her friend's home, she learns that Harry is none other than Charlotte's brother in law

There's an instant attraction between the two, though Juliana doesn't realize what she's feeling. Harry is a bit of a flirt, which doesn't make things easier between the two.

Catherine writes Regency the way I like them, clean. This story wouldn't have felt right if there were a lot of passionate love scenes. So yay for not having gratuitous sex scenes where they weren't needed.

I enjoyed how Juliana and Harry came together, though their mutual desire to care for her mother. When rumor's start to swirl about Juliana's parentage, Harry really steps up.

The conflict in the novel revolves around Juliana's mom and then Harry's feelings of inadequacy that seem to stem from PTSD.

The resolution of both these conflicts are a little unsatisfying, as it was fairly easy to deduce who the General was. I wanted to shake Juliana and her mother a few times for the secret keeping and in Juliana's case her inability to ask the obvious.

With Harry it wasn't so simple. His feelings of unworthiness certainly weren't merited, especially as his past is revealed.

These two certainly loved each other. It takes war to finally bring them together and Waterloo to make everything work out for everyone.

I really loved the twist at the end that involves the odious two Wakleys.

I can't wait to read more by Catherine Tinley.

Rating: 4 flowers

Giveaway – Win 2 x signed copies of The Captain’s Disgraced Lady (Open to UK only).

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Book Review: Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess

Author: Christine Merrill
Title: Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Publish Date: June 21, 2011
Review Copy Proved By: Net Galley
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Daphne Collingham is convinced that her beloved cousin died at the hands of her husband, Timothy, Lord Colton, so decides to masquerade as a governess in his home to discover the truth. What Daphne hasn’t bargained on is how the brooding Lord will make her feel under his dark gaze… Lord Colton is suspicious of the alluring new governess – and with the scandal surrounding him he must control his passion.
But a man has his limits, and the delectable Miss Collingham is pure temptation…

Review: When I first started reading this book, it felt like something I had already read, but I kept plugging on, because I really wanted to learn what really happened to Lord Colton's first wife, Clare.

This book is definitely more gothic than most historicals that Harlequin puts out. The mystery around Lady Colton's character really takes center stage and makes Lord Colton seem villanous even though you know that he's not a killer. After all, it wouldn't be a romance novel if the hero killed his first wife.

The author did a good job at making him come across as more than a little dark and brooding. I would have loved to have known more about the reasons for the voices in his head, that disappeared a bit too quickly for my liking. It was probably one of only two things that really bugged me about this story.

The other thing that bothered me a bit was Lady Colton. We were told a lot about her from Tim's side, but there wasn't a lot mentioned of why she was really such an influence on Daphne. It would have made the story a bit more rounded had we had a way of really seeing her.

Daphne's turn around from a spoiled girl to a woman in love worked well for me. She didn't have her fall instantly for the children, which was good, considering she professed to not really know how to deal with them, least of all as a governess.

This is a great historical with a touch of mystery for those that like the gothic style, plus it has some spice for those of us that like some action in the bedroom in our books. Definitely a good read for a cold winter's night.

Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: A Thoroughly Compromised Lady

Author: Bronwyn Scott
Title: A Thoroughly Compromised Lady
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Publish Date: Jan 18, 2011
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: When it comes to fencing, be it with words or weapons, Dulci Wycroft considers herself more than the equal of any man. Only once has she ever met her match….
Jack, Viscount Wainsbridge, is all charm and quick wit in the ballroom, but his impenetrable green eyes hint at darkness underneath. His dangerous work leaves no space for love—yet Dulci's voluptuous figure is impossibly tempting.

He's sure it won't take him long to discover if her sharp tongue can have other, more pleasurable, uses!

Review: Bronwyn Scott is one author that really gives Regency romance a good name! Dulci is not a simpering miss. She's an Incomparable, that does what she wants while remaining respectable, until Jack becomes her lover.

Then she gets involved with intrigue and then some.

The parts of the story that take place in British Guiana were the best. It was really great to see Dulci bloom once she was out of London Society.

The only part of the story that didn't sit well was the ending. I wanted more closure to the situation with Ortiz. Most of the story revolved around him, and he sort of faded into oblivion. This didn't spoil the story for me though, it just irked me a little.

Bronwyn weaved a wonderful story that mixed society and the wilds of South America. She didn't overdo it on the lovemaking scenes either. There was really more story than sex, which I find works well with historical romance.

She is one author I always look for in my monthly shipments.

Rating: 4 flowers

Book Review: My Lady Midnight

Author: Laurie Grant
Title: My Lady Midnight
Publisher: Harlequin Historical #340
Publish Date: November 1996
Rating: 4 Stars
Book Blurb: ~ from fictiondb.com

My Lady Midnight by Laurie Grant

A noblewoman is forced by her uncle, an ally of King Stephen, to kidnap the children of her sworn enemy, not knowing that she will fall in love with that enemy, or that the secret of his son's birth could cost a royal crown.
A Norman widow becomes a political pawn when she is forced to go undercover as a governess in the home of the baron she believes responsible for the death of her best friend.

Alain, Baron of Hawkswell, knew his children's winsome nursemaid was not all she seemed. Nay, beneath her serf's homespun lay a golden soul whose mysterious allure would change his life forever...!

Lady Claire de Coverly dared not reveal her Norman identity or her duplicitous mission to the imposing Lord of Hawkswell Castle, for to do so would destroy the joy she found with his children and end the exquisite passion she felt in his arms...!

Review:

This was an excellent medieval romance with a lot of drama to go along with the love story. I loved how Alain cared for both of his children and even more so, how Claire "Haesal" easily became the most important woman in their lives. In this story the children were really the most important characters, next to the hero and heroine. If they came off poorly it would have spoiled the whole book. Thankfully bother Guerin and Perry were sweet and adorable. There was wonderful sibling banter between the two.

Claire's struggle with her growing feelings for Alain was believable. It had to be hard to start falling for a man that you believed didn't care for your cousin, to whom he had been married to previously. She had quite a struggle too, warring with how she felt and what to do about her duplicity.

The only thing about the book that struck me as odd, was that no one really noticed how Father Gregory wasn't very priestly or pious. There were too many things about him early on that pointed to him being a bad guy. Especially when the young squire started to recover and then took a turn for the worse.

I was also glad when she finally told Alain the truth about her reasons for being Hawkswell. Alain might have forgiven her faster than I would have expected, but I think that after all the time she had spent with the children and how protective she was of them, that there was no way she meant them any harm.

All the character's were well rounded and well developed and really helped carry the story. This was a great read!

Book Review: Gold Rush Bride

Author: Debra Lee Brown
Title: Gold Rush Bride
Published Date: December 2002
Publisher: Harlequin Historical #594
Ratings: 4 Stars

In Gold Rush Bride, Debra Lee Brown introduces us to Kate Dennington who travels to California from Ireland to see her ailing father. Upon her arrival at Tinderbox, she learns she's too late and she also learns that women and foreigners can't own and operate a business in the town.

That's where fur trapper, Will Crockett comes in. She needs a husband so she can pay for her passage back to Ireland. The two are hastily wed but things soon turn out to be a bit more complicated.

Kate is a very spunky, loyal and loving woman. She cares about her family and wants to help them. That's why she hopes to make enough at the store to pay for her passage home and pay off the debt that is owed by her and her family that remained in Ireland. She also seems to find trouble wherever she goes and that makes the story more entertaining.

The problem both Kate and Will share is a lack of trust and too many things they want to keep secret from one another. That really keeps them from coming together faster, even though its quite apparent from the beginning of the story that there's chemistry between them.

This book is very light on the passion, which is actually a little bit unusual for historicals, but the story isn't suited for many passionate romps, so it definitely works.

The only thing that really detracts from the story is the ending. It just comes about too quickly and too easily, but other than that, this was definitely a great read that I would recommend to anyone that likes historical westerns.

Book Review: Taming Her Irish Warrior

There's a reason Michelle Willingham's book is up for a RITA this year. Taming Her Irish Warrior is wonderful without being cliche. The main reason for this is that both lead characters showed great strength, even when things weren't going their way.

Ewan MacEgan had come to win the hand of an heiress, Katherine, who just happens to be Honora's sister. But even when he does win her, he finds himself with feelings for Honora that he just can't ignore, and neither can she and Honora has problems of her own.

Her deceased husband's son, wants to claim her as a lover so that he can gain a treasure his grandmother supposedly told her about. Because she's left her husband's land, John has abused the serfs. She's desperate to find a way to remove John from power, even if she has to fight him, and Honora is just the woman to do that. She's a tomboy in every sense of the word, and trained with Ewan, but Ewan would prefer her doing other things.

I loved how determined Honora was in helping her people and how determined Ewan was to help her so that she wouldn't be hurt. They put everything aside for what or who they believed in.

This was my first book from Ms. Willingham and it won't be my last.