Grade: C-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: HistoricalSeries: Sin Trilogy #1
Reviewed by Kate
After the battle of Culloden the king declares that the daughters of Scottish chiefs shall marry English lords. And so, 7 year old Christy Macdonald finds herself married to 14 year old St. John (Sinjin) Thornton, a marquis. Flash forward 15 years and Sinjin has become known as Lord Sin, a notorious rake who has never returned to his wife to consummate their wedding. Christy is now the laird of her clan in the highlands. She is under a lot of pressure to have her marriage annulled so she can marry a man from the highlands. Christy travels to London to seek out Sinjin. Her clan thinks she is going to get the annulment, but she has other plans. She’s going to seduce her husband.
I loved the premise of this book and it started off strong. I soon came to dislike Christy. She quickly developed a pattern of lying to Sinjin, then running away. Then Sinjin would take his own sweet time chasing after her and the cycle would begin again. I found this book overly dramatic. Romance does not have to equal drama. The whole thing could have been resolved by locking the two of them in a room until they talked (of course the same could be said for a lot of romances). However, if you like your highlander romances to read like a soap opera, give this one a try.
historical
To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Historical
Series: Bridgertons #5
Reviewed by Kate
Eloise has been corresponding with Phillip since his wife passed away over a year ago. When he invites her to visit him to see if they might suit each other, Eloise (a spinster who is starting to feel lonely) decides to be daring and go by herself. She is surprised to find Phillip has a set of unruly twins. Having learned a little about each other through letters, they get to know each other quickly. And then Eloise’s four brothers show up on Phillip’s doorstep.
I am enjoying each Bridgerton book more and more. Eloise and Phillip’s story is my favorite so far. While both strong characters, there is a fragility about them that is so realistic it tugs at your heart. There are moments of the Bridgerton humor I’ve come to love and appreciate, but I actually like the more tender tone of this book.
Lover Be Mine by Nicole Jordan
Grade-D-
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Legendary Lovers #2
Reviewed by Kay
Sophie Fortin is a pretty girl whose family lost their place in line for a title because of the Wilde family. She is facing a loveless marriage to a duke, who as far as we can tell will be good to her. She wants to marry for love but her loyalty to her family and their shot at redemption made her decision easy.
Jack Wilde is a rake and a rogue. He also knows about family loyalty and it’s importance. He agrees to meet Sophie to shut up his cousin Skye. His female cousins have decided that they will all marry in a way that is reminiscent to legendary lovers. He thinks this is crazy but goes along with their plan just to show it’s idiocy.
They meet at a party and share a very steamy moment. Jack then thinks maybe there is something to this legendary lovers stuff and decides he wants a chance to court Sophie. He knows that he will have to do it on the down low because of the family feud.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t finish this novel. I was bored to tears, never could connect with the two main characters and had to force myself to read as far as I did. It makes me sad because I LOVE Nicole Jordan’s previous series and the novel The Lover. I don’t feel that this series is a proper showcase of her talent. If you want a good example, read her Courtship Wars series. It was fantastic.
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