Splendid by Julia Quinn

Cover: I like this particular cover a lot.  I love the purple flowers!  AAnd I like that it’s kind of a traditional looking mass market paperback cover- without a steamy scene on the front.

I’ve read a few Julia Quinn novels, but not many.  I decided to pick this one up on a bit of a whim, I and I didn’t realise at first that it was her first novel.

I really enjoyed it! Reading it in just under two days.

Emma is a fiery heroine, and Alex is an arrogant bachelor.  Neither one of them is prepared to fall in love, particularly with each other.

It’s definitely made me want to read more Julia Quinn novels in the near future.

4/5 stars.

Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 437 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062353594
• Publisher: Avon (28 April 2015)
• ASIN: B00UG8RP8Q

Can there be any greater challenge to London’s Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?

—Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, April 1813

By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister, the lovely—and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth—it’s all an elaborate plan to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy sutiors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.

But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it’s hard to remember that their courtship is a complete sham. Maybe it’s his devilish smile, certainly it’s the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her… but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke… for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love…

Cover: Nothing to really like or dislike about this cover. Although I do like that this series doesn’t have models on the front so that you can actually imagine how the characters look based on the author’s descriptions and not what the publisher decided to whack on the cover (although don’t get me wrong I can sometimes love a bodice ripping cover).

I read the second book in this series first, and loved it, so was looking forward to picking up the first book. I’ve discovered a new favourite Regency author and am looking forward to devouring more books from her.

Simon was such a great character- his father was disappointed in him, because when he was small he had a stutter and so he thought he must be stupid, and unworthy of the title. But Simon beat his stutter, and the anger against his father drives him, motivating him to master control of himself. But as the ultimate revenge against his father he resolves never to marry and have the title die with him.

There’s only one problem with this plan- Daphne Bridgerton.

The chemistry between the two of them was undeniable. I found myself really rooting for them. I wanted Simon to come to his senses and see that he and Daphne were made for each other. That the ultimate revenge on his father would be to live a happy life, not being miserable.

Highly recommend picking this one up guys- I thoroughly enjoyed it!!

5/5 stars.

The Viscount Who Loved by (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn

Format: Kindle Edition
Print Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Avon (28 April 2015)
ASIN: B00UG8RP22

1814 promises to be another eventful season, but not, This Author believes, for Anthony Bridgerton, London's most elusive bachelor, who has shown no indication that he plans to marry. And in all truth, why should he? When it comes to playing the consummate rake, nobody does it better...
--Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, April 1814

But this time the gossip columnists have it wrong. Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry--he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield--the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate's the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams...
Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes to not make the best husbands--and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all. Kate's determined to protect her sister--but she fears her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony's lips touch hers, she's suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible rake herself...
 
 

Cover:  There a few different covers for this book.  Fairly typical Regency Romance cover- nothing about it screamed ‘Read Me’ which is probably why it’s taken me such a long time to actually getting round to reading a Julia Quinn novel.

I’ve never read a Julia Quinn novel before, and I don’t really know why.  I would call myself a huge fan of Regency Romance.  I think because there are so many Regency novels out there, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of them.  I was aware of Julia Quinn, but I didn’t really know where to start really.

One day I was looking for some new Regency Romance authors to try, because I’d finished reading The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean- one of my favourite Regency Romance authors, and I was craving something similar.  So I Googled ‘Best Regency Romance Authors’, Which lead me to a list featuring ‘Julia Quinn’, which lead me to a top 5 list of someone favourite Julia Quinn books.  Long winded I know.

But at number one on that list was The Viscount Who Loved Me.  And even though it’s number 2 in a series, I decided to give it a go.

And I’m so glad that I did.  I loved it.

Anthony has decided that it’s time for him to get married and produce an heir.  He’s convinced, that like his father, he will die young.  So he wants to avoid romantic complications such as loving his wife.  He wants to marry someone he gets on well enough with, but not someone he’ll fall in love with. 

He decides on the Season’s belle of the ball Edwina. 

There’s one complication- Edwina’s older sister Kate.

Kate is a strong willed lady.  And she steadfastly guards her sister against Rake’s.  And the Viscount is definitely a Rake. 

With each interaction the banter and chemistry builds between them.  I loved their arguments.

Maybe the Viscount is as risk of falling in love after all.

This book was exactly my kind of read.  I absolutely fell in love with it.  I loved the quirky banter, it made me smile while reading it.

I didn’t feel that not reading the first book really mattered an awful lot as the story stands by itself, but I will definitely be going back and picking up the first book.  I will be picking up more Julia Quinn novels that’s for sure.

It’s nice to read another Regency Romance with substance to it, I feel an obsession coming on.

 5/5 stars.

W...W...W...Wednesday 13/07/2016 (On a Friday...Oops)

I don't know how I managed to miss posting this W...W...W...Wednesday this week- but I did.  So here it is now:-

To play along, just answer the following 3 questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

My current read is The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean

I recently finished Deep Redemption by Tillie Cole

I think my next read will be The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey

How To Capture a Countess (The Duchess Diaries #1) by Karen Hawkins

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 388 pages
• Publisher: Headline Eternal (7 May 2015)
• ASIN: B00S53JFC8

The Duchess Diaries are sure to delight: a dazzlingly romantic, sexy, and Scottish spin on fairytales.

At seventeen, Rose Balfour fell wildly in love with Lord Alton Sinclair, nicknamed 'Lord Sin' for his notoriously wicked ways. When an illicit kiss led to Rose humiliating the rake in front of his laughing peers, she was forced to escape to the obscurity of the Scottish countryside.

Six years later, Sin is intent on revenge. Convincing his aunt, the Duchess of Roxburghe, to invite Rose to her annual ball, he plans on making her the laughing stock of high society. But he didn't expect Rose to have bloomed into an alluring woman with the power to turn his nefarious plans upside down.

As Sin and Rose enter a fiery battle of the sexes, it becomes more heated and passionate at every turn. Eventually, one will have to surrender ... but to vengeance, or love's deepest passion?

Cover: A pretty standard Regency Romance romance cover, that I neither love or hate.

I love Regency romance.  It's a big guilty pleasure of mine.  

And I really enjoyed The Oxenburg Princes series, that I've started.  That was the first books of hers I read, and she instantly became a new favourite author.

So I had to delve into another one of her series.  The Duchess Diaries.

And this was such a cute read.  Rose meets Sin when she was just 16.  New to being out in Society, but she has a little crush on Sin.  She meets him at a ball and wants to keep him interested in talking to her, and Sin doesn't realise her age, thinking she's a much more sophisticated and experienced than she really is.

So when he kisses her, she panics and ends up pushing Sin into a fountain.  Leading to humiliation for Sin.  When he tries to track her down- she's disappeared.  He thinks he did it on purpose.  So when they're reunited at his Aunts house party, he plans to seduce and ruin her for revenge.

I love Rose and Sin.  They were perfect together.  

A super sweet regency novel and a great start to the series.  I look forward to delving into more of this series.

5/5 stars

Read from May 19 to 21, 2016

The Princess Wore Plaid (The Oxenburg Princes #2.5) by Karen Hawkins

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 112 pages
• Publisher: Headline Eternal (21 Mar. 2016)
• ASIN: B00S53JGGI

Sizzling Scottish romance abounds in this e-novella in the Princes of Oxenburg series, a spinoff to New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins’s delightful Duchess Diaries series.

A princess once bejeweled but now tattered…

Royal princess Tatiana Romanovin is the beautiful, wealthy, and spoiled favorite of the King of Oxenburg. On her way to her cousin’s wedding in the Scottish highlands, she and her entourage are held up by a gang of ruffians. Frightened, her servants flee, and Tatiana soon finds herself alone in an inn with no servants, no funds, and no proof of her identity. Destitute, she accepts the offer from a sympathetic (but unbelieving) innkeeper to work for her room and board while she waits for an answer to the missive she’s sent to her cousin Prince Nikolai. With no other recourse, Tatiana scrubs floors and dirty linens, waiting for her prince to come…

A proud lord once lost and now found…

After a brutal, bloody battle with the French Navy left Lord Buchan limping and surly, abandoned by his betrothed because of his twisted leg, his lordship hides away at his manor house in the countryside. He leaves only once a week to eat at the local inn, drawn by the expert cooking of the innkeeper’s wife. One day, Buchan arrives to find that the innkeeper has a new servant, a beautiful scullery maid with a queenly air, and flashing green eyes that leave him breathless and increasingly aware of his lonely existence…

Love may find them yet…

The challenge of winning his way into Tatiana’s heavily protected heart stirs Buchan back to life…but can he and his twisted leg—and broken heart—win a proud princess whose only goal is to leave Scotland and return to the court where she’s the crowning jewel? 

Cover:  I love this cover.  It just calls to me. 

The first Karen Hawkins book I read was The Prince Who Loved Me, the first book in her Oxenburg Princes series, and with it, I found a new favourite Regency romance author with a series loosely retelling fairy tales.
The Princess Wore Plaid is a novella in that series.
And it's short and sweet.  And a Regency retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
I loved this little novella, reading it in only a day.  Definitely worth picking up, but I would recommend picking up the first two books in this series first.
I only wish that this was a full sized novel as I feel that the potential was there for it to be fleshed out.
4.5/5 stars.

Read on May 18, 2016

#FridayReads 20/05/16