C Reviews

Married by Midnight by Julianne MacLean

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Married By Midnight (Pembroke Palace, #4)



Grade: C-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Historical
Series: Pembroke Palace #4
Reviewed by Kate
186 pages

Lord Garrett Sinclair’s father is going crazy and had his will changed. Unless all four of his sons marry by midnight on Christmas Eve, his entire fortune will go to the London Horticulture Society. Garrett has been out of country (read: avoiding his father) for the past 7 years. He agrees to return and marry (in name only), if his brothers find the bride for him. Lady Anne Douglas has been compromised and disowned by her parents. When Garrett’s brothers offer her income and independence in exchange for marrying Garrett (who will leave the country after the wedding) she accepts.

This story had almost everything I’ve come to love about a marriage of convenience.  A hero and heroine dealing with their pasts.  A plausible reason for the union.  But it was missing my favorite piece of the plot – the struggle to get to know each other.  That awkward part where both the hero and the heroine make mistakes as they try to figure out how to live together.  Instead Garrett and Anne were immediately comfortable with each other.  It was just too perfect, too quickly. 

How about you?  Do you prefer the getting to know you clash or the instant perfection?

Laiden’s Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Laiden's Daughter
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Ember
Kink Level-None
Series-Clan MacDougall #1
Reviewed by Kay

Duncan McEwan is a warrior, training to become a future Chieftain. He was never looking for love and never suspected he would find it in the hopeless and abused woman he and his friends find face down in a stream. Aishlinn, no last name, has never experienced kindness from a male. Not her stepfather, stepbrothers, or pretty much anyone else that should have cared for her. She escapes after years of repeated and horrific abuse only to end up face down in that creek.

Her rescue at Duncan’s hands is the start to a love story that will touch your heart. Not just the love but the scars each of them carry from their pasts both physically and emotionally. This novel started out so good but drug in the middle pretty badly for me. There are some plot twists and they leave the reader pretty satisfied with them I would say. What didn’t work for me honestly was the heat level. It was barely there and I am a big fan of heat. Sadly, her good writing and storytelling was penalized for me because of it. Enough that I won’t read any of the others. It makes me sad because anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Scottish Highlander romance!

Chasing Mrs. Right by Katee Robert

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Chasing Mrs. Right (Come Undone, #2)
Grade-C+
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Come Undone #2
Reviewed by Kay

Let me start by saying that I did not read the first book in the series, so I don’t know if that would have made any difference. I felt that the book was okay as a stand alone novel.

Ian Wasler is a soldier recently discharged from the Army. He had seen a lot of very unpleasant things in his tours and wants to get back to normal. The problem is he can’t figure out how to do that. He can’t sleep well or relate to his family. His PTSD is stifling to him. His sister throws him a welcome home party and he can’t take the crowd so he runs out the side door and plows into a beautiful brunette.

Roxanne Stokes is said beautiful brunette and was going to attend her best friend’s brother’s welcome home party. Instead she’s on top of some guy who came barreling out the door she was going to enter. As a party planner she has to deal with a great many different types of people and she can see this guy has issues. These two people have an instant attraction and there you have it. She fights the attraction for various reasons, the least of which is that she figures out who he is after their tryst.

I liked this read a lot. The characters were good people with really crappy pasts. Each had family issues that were difficult and caused problems for them both. The push and pull between these two was fun and exciting to read about. It was a little slow in the middle, maybe, but still enjoyable. Let’s not forget the love scenes, they were nice as well.