let's play a game of duke, duke, goose

  Earls Just Want to Have Fun (Coven Gardens #1) by Shana Galen - C- Marlowe, nee Lady Elizabeth Lyndon, was kidnapped at the age of six years old by the leader of a gang of thieves. Maxwell, Earl ...

I've made the decision to switch to a WordPress blog. I'll still be posting links here for people that don't like following WordPress or still want to reblog reviews for certain books, but the actual text of the review will now be on the WordPress blog. 

I decided the archiving of a blog and, FRANKLY, the notion that people could actually COMMENT with their OWN thoughts occasionally was kind an awesome idea. 

5/5 Stars 

Rachel Riley became a part of the O'Kane gang as a way of punishing her family. Lorenzo Cruz became a part out of necessity and with the help of his friend Brendan Donnelly. Alexander Santana was born in sector 4 before being orphaned and plucked up to be put into service as a male 'companion'.

Now Rachel is the master brewer for the O'Kane gang. Cruz is an irreplaceable part of the O'Kane's version of soldiers. Ace is the tattoo artist for the gang, responsible for giving everyone their marks and O'Kane cuffs. Ace and Rachel, basically, fell in love at first sight. There was an instant connection, but Ace has spent the majority of his adult life attempting to protect his own soft heart, and in doing so, he breaks Rachel's before they even get a chance. 

Enter Cruz, whom Rachel feels an immediate attraction to, and vice versa. But again, their relationship comes to an end before it ever really gets off its feet. And then Cruz and Ace are paired together for runs and other operations. Then the sparks really fly.

Somewhere in the middle of book 3 or so, I tweeted that I was going to scream because ALL I WANTED was a happy threesome for these people. :((((  I didn't even stop to consider that a happy threesome was a possibility, because, to be fair, it's not exactly a common solution to the love triangle problem in romance. Either the whole thing is set up as a menage from the get go, or there's a "solution" to the love triangle. So I just assumed Ace and Rachel would end up together and someone new would enter to soothe Cruz's wounded heart.

I have never been happier to be more wrong about something in my life. 

This novel is about navigating a relationship that's not even particularly common in this dystopian/post-apoc world. There are plenty examples of two people devoted only to each other, but there wasn't really a guide book for Cruz, Rae, and Ace for how to handle what they all are to each other. That's what I love so much about this book series. The entire thing is about the importance of communication, clear and concise, and meaningful. It's about boundaries and needs and wants and fulfilling all of those for the person you care  about without sacrificing your own boundaries, wants, and needs. 

Cruz has to come to terms with wanting something that was next level forbidden in Eden, Ace has to come to terms with allowing himself to believe he's worthy of love and worth of this relationship, and Rachel has to trust that Ace and Cruz aren't just using her as the pilot light to their flame. 

It's not easy, and it's not quick, and it's not without getting messy. But it is gorgeous. This isn't a menage for the sake of kink, it's a menage because these three people all bring something necessary to the table. They're less without each one of them in the relationship. And it's just so great. 

This was a very difficult year for me overall. There was a lot of bad stuff that happened, to the point that it feels like it overwhelmed any of the good stuff that happened. I took refuge in reading. A lot. I read a lot. Because living in another world through the magic of fiction for a little while was my main outlet for the depression, anxiety, and stress of life. Sooooo.

This is essentially a recommendation list! There may be some overlap from the last one I made, but some will be new! Hopefully the majority will be new. 

Please note: very few of these books were actually published in 2014. After spending 6+ years being a joyless student, I started picking up reading again and therefore I was very, very, very behind on everything. Hence, me reading 203 books this year. 

But without much further ado: my favorite books I read in 2014!

5/5 Stars 

Beyond Control is the second novel in the Beyond series by the dynamic duo behind the penname Kit Rocha. In a lot of ways, I loved this one EVEN MORE than I loved the first one. But it is heavier in a lot of ways as well. 

We're introduced to Dallas and Lex in the first novel, and their tempestuous (to put it mildly) relationship. They fight and they fuck (well, everything short of the full-bore fucking), and they fight some more. The depth to their relationship is only hinted at enough in Beyond Shame to really get you all revved up for their story. 

Lex (Lexie or Alexa) was raised in Sector 2. She was sold to a brothel at a young age, you find out over the course of the story that it was an ... intense brothel. All under the veneer of respectability, of course. Right before she was sold, as a young adolescent, she escaped and essentially lived off the streets, stealing, almost starving, doing whatever she could until she landed on Dallas O'Kane's doorstep six years ago. Dallas O'Kane was raised on a farm by a single mother, an experience that helped to shape him, and the way he treats the people around him, maybe particularly, the women. 

Lexie is just one of my favorite characters ever. God, how I love Lexie. How I want to build shrines to Lexie. The relationship between her and Dallas has been alternating from a rolling boil to  slow simmer off and on for six years. What I love the MOST about this book, is the view into the fact that Lexie really helped Dallas build his empire. She wasn't just a cog in the works, she was irreplaceable. She has basically been his Queen since the very beginning, they just weren't ready for the level of intensity between the two of them. 

Lexie has a lot of issues stemming from her training in the brothel, which is really not surprising, but is handled in a really lovely way. Lexie needs things from Dallas that she can't express in words, that she hasn't managed to put together into a complete sentence in her own mind. The first 75% of the book is exactly what you expect from them, power struggles, control play, two people that have six years of intense history finally giving in to what they both want. 

5/5 Stars

Before I actually get to the review of this, let me just say OH. MY. GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Here are some things I (virtually) never read: dystopia, heavy BDSM, future-set novels, romances with violence etc. This book was not on the top of my to-read list, but somehow it was in my Amazon Kindle library! These things happen. It was next to read alphabetically, so there I go! 

Beyond Shame is set in a future, dystopian world. I've seen a lot of people compare it to Hunger Games, just because the outlying communities are divided into sectors who kind of each have a speciality/distinct personality. But that's rather where the comparisons end. Outside of the sectors, there's Eden. Eden is precisely what it sounds like, an anesthetic, cold, emotionless "utopia" where all of the rich people lived after solar flares fucked everything up. Noelle gets cast out of Eden for daring to "fornicate" and get drunk. 

She gets thrust into sector 4, where she gets drugged and stumbles into (literally) Jasper, righthand man of the leader of Sector 4, Dallas O'Kane. Noelle swoons, Jasper takes her back to headquarters and then the real fun begins. 

For people that have seen Sons of Anarchy, that's what the O'Kanes reminded me of. They're a gang of people with grey moral areas that care more about each other than what is or is not "morally" correct. They protect each other at all cost. They live and die for each other. Noelle is given into the care of Lex (LEXIIIIIE), while Dallas decides whether or not she gets to stay with the O'Kanes in sector 4. 

And oh, right. The O'Kanes are very, very into group sex and BDSM. I'm sure I've talked about it before, but I have some real issues with heavy erotica and BDSM I've come across in the past, more specifically with historical BDSM/erotica. There's just so much rape and so much missing the point of the interchange of power between and dom and a sub. And frankly, there's a lot of power dynamics between men and women in history that leads to me feeling uncomfortable with a lot of the novels I've read in the past.

To be TOTALLY frank, I did not have the highest expectations for this novel. I expected it to be rote, remote, cold, and just pure fucking with a hint of violence and control problems. That is not at ALL the book I got. It took about 13% before I was sold on this.

Somehow, the duo behind the pseudonym Kit Rocha take a subcategory of romance that frequently touches on a lot of my rape/abuse triggers and they made it warm and familial and kind and caring. Those are not adjectives I associate very often with heavy BDSM, dark, violent dystopian romance novels and yet. 

There is this thread and current throughout the entire novel that this gang is a family. They all love one another, they all care about one another. They form a bond that transcends blood and friendship and expectations. Their sexuality is always fluid, they indulge in a lot of group sex, there's spanking, flogging, tattooing, clamps and toys and plugs. But somehow, throughout all of these things that could come across as gaudy or showy or abusive, there's this sense of caring, of giving people what they need to get by in this world, and to never push past a boundary people aren't comfortable with pushing past. 

Even the relationship between Noelle and Jasper which could so easily become an abuse of power, and abuse of knowledge, and just plain abusive physically and emotionally is instead a beautiful story of a girl that is trying to explore her actual wants and needs and a man in control enough to give her and push her, but never force her or step over a line. 

This is a love story about a woman trying to become a person after being held down for so long. Exploring what it means to get past the shame of a culture telling you that you're dirty and wrong for having desires that aren't put neatly into a missionary-style-under-the-sheets box. They never cross the line outside of the bedroom. Jasper is not a man that wants complete control of the woman he calls his. Jasper is a man that wants to give the woman he loves everything she needs from him, and to her a sense of autonomy to finally choose the things she wants and needs, and to be the person she's been locking inside.

4.5/5 Stars

A Gentleman in the Street is my first Alisha Rai read. I found her through twitter, actually, through one of my other favorite authors. I figured, hey, if my favorite author loves her, there's got to be something to it. 

I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes struggle with romance that gets shoveled into the erotica genre, because, well. I'm a feelings porn kind of person, and it seems like the majority of erotica I've stumbled across has been low on the actual consent and low on the feels. This book is low on neither, and excels at so much.

Akira Mori is a billionaire businesswoman. She's just...I love Akira. I love how uncompromising Akira is. She's sexually aware, she's powerful, she's hard, she's vulnerable, she's seductive, she's boss-like. She really is a woman that could so easily be cast as the villain of a piece. Also, glory, glory hallelujah a bisexual heroine. Not a heroine that's confused, not heroine just waiting on the Perfect Dick or Vagina to roll along. But a woman that doesn't put limits on her sexuality, what she finds attractive, who she's attracted to, etc. And it's so refreshing. 

Jacob Campbell is a writer with a heart of gold, and a mind of filth. Sort of. Jacob had to take responsibility for his younger siblings at a tender age, and after a mishap that it would be spoilery to discuss in detail, he locked himself inside his own body and didn't allow himself to ever really have anything he wants. He's wanted Akira for years, but won't let himself have it because of ~responsibility~. 

The relationship between Akira and Jacob was just a breath of fresh air that I've been craving. It's the relationship that dreams are made of. Neither of them has to compromise who they are in order to be in a relationship. NOT ONLY THAT, but yes yes yes for menage/orgy type scenes with different combinations of sexes, and a man that both claims to be turned on by it and is also LEGITIMATELY TURNED ON BY IT. 

Never does Jacob cross a line into possessive or controlling or demeaning or generally misogynistic gross stereotypes that seems to happen so often. This novel also doesn't just solely rely on an alpha/omega, top/bottom, dom/sub relationship. There is a hint that Akira is the more dominant partner in a lot of things, but Jacob isn't afraid to wrest control, and learning to lose control is important to Akira's development as a character. Jacob is neither the Uber Alpha Controlling Male, nor the sub that is at Akira's feet begging for attention.

They're both well-rounded, grey, fully developed people that just happen to have a lot of smokin' hot sex. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY: there are so many feelings to be had. But the feelings are not given to you in a neatly wrapped box of, "Well, we had orgies, but then we realized it was Tru Luv and now we only need each other~~~~!" Thank GOD. You get the feeling Akira and Jacob will continue to have their cocktail parties, but it will never be to the detriment of their actual relationship with one another.

5/5 Stars

I think to say that I was anticipating this book would be a vast understatement. I've structured my entire reading schedule for the past three weeks based on the fact that this book would be coming out at the end of November. When there's such a build-up for a book, on some level, you expect to be a little disappointed, but I can safely say that was not the case. 

There are not very many times I'm actually, genuinely shocked by a twist in a novel. But the end of No Good Duke Goes Unpunished when it's revealed that Chase is actually a woman literally made my jaw drop and my fingers fly to the keyboard to e-mail all of my romance novel reading friends and shout about this. My sister is also a big fan of Sarah MacLean and we spent a long, long time discussing how on EARTH we managed to miss it! DIDN'T THEY REFER TO "HIM"? We actually went back and re-read it, and the way that Sarah MacLean manages to let your assumptions fill in black spaces is masterful. 

Georgiana Pearson, a.k.a Anna, a.k.a Chase, is the younger sister to the Duke of Leighton. When she was sixteen, she was hoisted by her own petard. Though, I think it would make a good book club discussion. How complicit was Georgiana in her own downfall? That aside, after a very brief affair, Georgiana was shipped off -- with her baby. Thus sets the stage for her becoming the all-powerful owner of the one of the most popular casinos in London.

Duncan West a.k.a unknown for large portions of the novel is the most successful newspaperman in London. His past is unknown, and he is essentially, the fifth part of ownership in The Fallen Angel. Because this book is such a recent release (most I review are fairly old), I don't want to give away too much of Duncan's story and spoil it for anyone. But, suffice to say, Duncan's past is seemingly torrid and sketchy, and he does everything he can to keep his younger sister safe and protected from whatever is haunting him. 

There are so many lovely levels to Duncan and Georgiana's relationship as it develops. The dual theme of running from their past, the fact that they both see so much, but they both miss the most important lies hanging between them. They both do everything that they do for the women in their lives. For Georgiana, this is her daughter Caroline, for Duncan, his sister Cynthia. 

There were so many things that made Georgiana and Duncan work in this novel. He's a man that can stand toe-to-toe with, arguably, the most powerful woman in London without either being intimidated or objecting to her power. Part of this is because his power is the only that could rival hers, they both hold London and its secrets and its noblemen in the palm of their hands, with the power to destroy on a whim. Its this power hanging in the balance of all of their interactions that makes your breath catch, and her knuckles go white on the edge of the pages (or the edge of your e-Reader in my case). 

Watching them navigate the fact that they could not be more wrong for one another, while simultaneously being the only one for each other, is never boring and never dull. There are times you want to shake them both and say, "JUST TRY THE TRUTH FOR ONCE." But you also understand what eggshells they both live on. Eggshells that are built as a pathway on top of landmines. Over a crevice the depth of the Marianas Trench. 

But for all that I love Georgiana and Duncan's relationship, I have to say, the love the 3 boys (Temple, Bourne, and Cross) have for Georgiana and vice versa is overwhelming and wonderful. It's so familial and warm, there's such a history and appreciation for each other in all their interactions. And then there's Georgiana's relationship with her daughter Caroline. Children can be decisive when it comes to romance novels, but frankly, the only novel I ever wrote featured a prominent child character, and I love kids in novels. Caroline never disappoints. She's such a perfect foil for Georgiana, bright beyond her years (like her mother), cunning (like her mother), and caring (like her mother tries to keep a secret). 

Overall, a wonderful, perfect close to this series that has been one of my favorites I've ever read. I look forward to more from Sarah MacLean. But I'll admit to being a little sad to see these four go. 

The Duchess War (The Brothers Sinister Book Book 1) - Kindle edition by Courtney Milan. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

2/5 Stars

I've decided to read ONLY stand-alone romance novels until Sarah MacLean's Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover comes out, because if I get hooked on another Pennyroyal Green, I don't want to be in the middle of it when that books comes out, because I'm dropping everything and reading it immediately.

The first on my list was Dee Ernst's A Different Kind of Forever which I bought because I saw there was a 19 year age difference between the couple, and the woman was older. I was SUPER excited and I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. 

Michael Carlucci is a Big Name Rock Star, sort of. He's the keyboardist/back-up vocalist for a super hot youngish rock band that all the teenagers are into. He's 26 years old, super talented, and beyond that there's not a whole lot to say about him other than that he's devoted to his family. 

Diane Matthews is a divorced, 45-year-old mother of 3 daughters. She has a great relationship with her ex-husband, and a really fulfilling job as a professor as an English professor at the local liberal arts college. She's trying to get her playwriting career off the ground. 

They meet in a very meet-cute-y way when his dog steals her sandwich. It's love/lust/something at first sight, and they eat lunch, and he promises to send her (huge fans of) daughters tickets and backstage passes to the sold out show they've been dying to go to. 

I wanted so badly to get the feelings between these two because I wanted this subversion of the May/December trope to really work for me, but this book suffers from a lot of first-unpublished-book problems. The dialogue was, at times, exceptionally stilted. It didn't have the proper flow and build and dynamics of really engrossing dialogue. 

And even though I hate to say it because it sounds like something I wouldn't really ask about a standard book, but why do these two like each other? It's very tell not show in this book. We're told that Michael loves her and thinks she's hot and smart. We're told Diane thinks Michael's cute and sweet and talented. But, in my opinion, you never feel that from either of them.

Not to mention the book ends abruptly. 

4/5 Stars

I feel so bittersweet about finishing this one, since I now have to wait until March for the next installment. I kind of cannot believe the speed with which I went through this series. 

This installment finds us being introduced to Titania “Tansy” Danforth, the now orphaned niece of the Duke of Falconbridge (previously featured in What I Did For a Duke). Tansy has spent the past decade (or so) living in America. She loses her brother in the War of 1812, and then loses her parents in a carriage accident. I have a lot of feelings about Tansy. 

Ian Eversea we’ve known since the first of the series. He’s a bit of a cad. And infamously, best known for his cuckolding of the Duke of Falconbridge in What I Did For a Duke. We find him not much changed, except, of course, in true Julie Anne Long fashion, we’re finally allowed the ability to understand Ian’s reasons for being. 

Tansy, oh Tansy. Tansy is one of my favorite/best examples of what Julie Anne Long does with tropes and caricatures. In that she takes them, and flips them just enough to make you question everything. Tansy collects and breaks hearts like it’s her job. In another novel, she wouldn’t be the heroine, or she would be so innocent and naive she would have no idea what she was doing. She would be the classic example of Too Stupid To Live. Instead, Julie Anne Long manages to combine a very real feeling of naïveté and knowledge that makes Tansy complex and real. She knows that she’s flirting, she knows the power she has to capture male attention and interest. She doesn’t realize the power that gives her over other people’s feelings. But Julie Anne Long does it in such a beautiful way, where you actually understand how Tansy’s past has led her to be the person she is. And it’s gorgeous. 

Ian is just. I tweeted about this book earlier. This is the first book I’ve read in romance where the hero of the novel sincerely dislikes the heroine for half the book. Not in a way where he stomps around with an uncomfortable erection, hating her for making him want her. No. Ian genuinely, sincerely does not like Tansy or the way Tansy treats people around her or the discord that Tansy causes. He especially does not like the way that Tansy affects his sister, Olivia. 

There is a TINY TINY TINY part of me that thinks their transformation from somewhat adversarial to making out was a LITTLE fast. Which is probably why this book didn’t reach the five stars that Like No Other Lover and What I Did For a Duke did. That being said, I loved the way they connected through their pain. I love the fact that Ian took time to actually understand Tansy, and what made Tansy the person she is. And vice versa. Neither of them fundamentally changed, they just started communicating and understanding, and that’s something that Julie Anne Long does just about as well as any other writer in the business. 

4/5 Stars

We drift slightly away from the Redmonds and the Everseas for this novel. Though, only a very little bit. The main hero of this novel is the Reverend Adam Sylvaine, vicar to Pennyroyal Green, cousin to the Everseas. Not much is known about Adam, he showed up in Chase's book, and had a potentially magical healing power. 

I am endlessly grateful that Julie Anne Long didn't pursue that in this book, because this book has plenty going on anyway, and that would've added an aspect of magical realism I don't expect from Julie Anne Long. 

Instead we get a story about Adam coping with the weight of the emotional support the village needs from him, along with the husband-hunting mommies and daughters. There's something quite gorgeous about the characterization of Adam. The burden he feels, while simultaneously not considering it such a burden. He likes that he brings comfort and respite to the people that depend on him. It seems like it actually is his calling, but he has lost touch a bit with what it means to be a person himself. 

Evie Duggan (nee Aoife Duggan), Countess of Wareham, and recent widow is a former courtesan and actress whose hand in marriage was won in a well-known card game. Evie is an intriguing heroine in that he doesn't apologize at all for the things she's had to do to take care of her family and herself. While, at the same time, she hates that those were the options available to her. She's strong and willful and refuses to be cowed by the very people she wants acceptance from. 

I think, perhaps, the thing I loved the most is how slowly Eve and Adam's relationship developed. I'm also very ashamed of how slow I was to realized they were Adam and Eve. Adam isn't bowled over by lust for her, and Eve isn't immediately torn asunder by the love she feels for him. They genuinely do start out as something approaching friends. He helps her the way he helps all of his parishioners, and in the process, comes to know Evie better than anyone save her maid likely ever has. It's a gorgeously drawn, delicate relationship.

3.5/5 stars 

It's very strange to give this book 3 stars on GoodReads. It's a shame, but when it comes to favorite authors, and especially within a series, my ratings start to be reflective more of the book's quality in comparison to the rest of the series rather than the rest of the books I've read.

At any rate, this is the 6th book in the Pennyroyal Green Series and truly does occupy some place between my feelings about What I Did for a Duke and I Kissed an Earl. 

The book BEGINS with a very injured, shot, Julian Spenser, Marquess of Dryden, stumbling into the Pig & Thistle. He collapses and manages to mumble out something about how 'she' doesn't love him. We're then sent back six weeks previously to actually begin the story. 

Phoebe Vale is a teacher at Miss Endicott's School (for Recalcitrant Young Women). She teaches several subjects, mainly languages. She has a bit of a semi-mysterious past. It's not as if she's actively hiding something out of shame, merely that she isn't close enough to anyone to open herself up to that censure. She isn't actively lying, she's just not actively sharing, either. She's a former pupil of Miss Endicott's, and a former tutor of Lisbeth Redmond, cousin of the previous Redmonds in the series. 

Julian Spenser, Marquess of Dryden, is generally regarded as The Pinnacle of Manhood. He's controlled, never loses a wager (no matter how enormous), is intimidating, and sets every trend worth following. He is going to marry Lisbeth Redmond, not out of any sentimentality, but because she is the key to rectifying the final wrong his father committed against his family. 

Once again, with Julie Anne Long, these are characters that with a less talented, deft touch would've been a little bit despicable at times. Julian is, by all means, someone that should be a distant asshole, who is using a young girl to achieve his ends. But, to be totally honest, Julian doesn't really seem to be using Lisbeth in a way that makes you overly sensitive to Lisbeth. He really does want to make a marriage work with her. He has no current, obvious plans to set up a mistress (his...father sort of ruined the family by travelling that road). He is, however, not remotely a romantic. It is, essentially, a business arrangement, but Julian's entire life is a business arrangement, and he is constantly grasping onto control in a death grip. 

Phoebe has a pile of secrets and lies she's holding onto herself. But she's by no means the tragic display of crappy childhoods that you get out of a lot of governess/teacher storylines. She has a cat she adores, who adores no one but her. A brilliant head on her shoulders. And plans. She has a lot of plans. None of which include staying in England for much longer.

Phoebe is invited to be Lisbeth Redmond's paid companion for the duration of a house party, that is really supposed to set up the engagement of Lisbeth and Julian. Naturally, in the process, Julian and Phoebe meet and the rest is, basically, history.

This book lies somewhere between the insular nature of Like No Other Lover and the more expansive I Kissed An Earl, but much less broad than The Perils of Pleasure. It moves, there's drama, there's the tiniest touch of intrigue, but it is mainly a story of a man who has had to be in control since he was 17, making an utter fool of himself over a woman that really just wants to feel like she belongs somewhere, with someone. 

5/5 Stars

Julie Anne Long is at her best, in my opinion, when she is writing the book equivalent of a bottle episode. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors, but I do have my minor (and occasionally not minor) quibbles with her Pennyroyal Green series. I didn't care for the first book (I feel like there might be a review floating somewhere in the ephemera detailing my issues), I was destroyed by the second book, the third and fourth books suffered from my same issues as the first (I'll touch on that slightly when I get into the review), but truth be told, I was reading this series solely so I could get to this book. The first, third, and fourth books for me -- not that Julie Anne Long is not GOOD at writing mystery/suspenseful plots, it's just that I think her specific set of talents shines when she's simply writing about the growth of a relationship and emotions between the two main characters. 

It's no secret whatsoever that I love a May/December romance. I have, literally, loved May/December since I was a preteen. When I found this one repeatedly mentioned on lists of the best romance novels with significant age differences, I decided I would give the Pennyroyal Green series another go around. Which has turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL decision. But to say there was a lot of anticipation and build-up for me in getting to this book would be an understatement. 

For one of the very few times in my reading lifetime, a book that was so hyped up in my brain, did not disappoint me at all. 

The Duke of Moncrieffe, Alex, is a widower who is cuckolded by Ian Eversea (a name familiar to those who know something of this series). Well, sort of. Alex is engaged to Abigail Beasley and Ian takes it upon himself to romance her a little. Alex catches them, and instead of calling Ian out, as Ian fully expects, Alex instead vows revenge. Oh, and he's been somewhat accused of poisoning his deceased wife.

Genevieve Eversea is Ian's baby sister, all of 20 and madly in love with her nearly-life-long best friend, Harry Osborne. She and Harry comprise a trio with Millicent, and on the first day of the Everseas' house party, Harry tells Genevieve that he's planning to propose -- to Millicent. Genevieve is devastated. Completely heartbroken and devastated. 

Naturally, this is when it's revealed that Alexander, Duke of Moncrieffe, has been added as a last minute participant of this little house party. And boy, does he have some plans for Genevieve.

What I love about Julie Anne Long's writing, in all of her books, is the fact that no one she writes is purely a caricature. The villains aren't just villains, the heroes aren't merely heroic. Everyone seems like a real person. Genevieve is naive, she is rather innocent, she is a tad dramatic, while also being quiet and reserved and intelligent. But at no time do you want to shake her for being too innocent, or too stupid, or too anything. 

I think the thing I love most about Genevieve is that her quietness and the way in which she expresses care and kindness toward others, is seen almost solely through the eyes of Alex. Genevieve's virtues aren't something that impressed upon us like a hammer between the eyes. It's not something that Genevieve internally strives for. It's just part of Genevieve, and Alex is the only one that really notices it because Alex is so deprived of that sort unthinking consideration. 

Alex is especially interesting to me in this novel, he could so easily come across as the haughty, distant, lascivious asshole. After all, he's there to use Genevieve to get revenge on her scallawag of a brother. But he's actually a complex person. He's not inherently cruel, vicious, evil, or any of the other adjectives that tend to be attached to him. The slow reveal of what happened to his wife, and the impact it had on him is beautiful. As always, it seems, in the hands of Julie Anne Long, the trauma of his backstory and how it affects his ability to both feel and accept love and kindness is not something that is drawn in aggravatingly broad strokes. Instead it just quietly, and simply, a part of Alexander who has dark and light shades to him. 

Genevieve and Alex have such a wonderful dynamic between them. She's heartbroken, his heart was broken years ago. She's the quiet one who is lost in a sea of the insanity of the Eversea clan, he's the duke that everyone writes off as the haughty (perhaps murderous) heartless man. Somehow, in trying to use her, he ends up becoming hers. And it's just gorgeous. 

5/5 Stars

I love books that just rather remind me of why I love this genre, and why I love reading, and what it is I "get out of it." 

I hate the summarization part of reviewing books, I honestly believe it to be my weakest point, and I dislike toeing the line between giving too much away and not giving enough away that people would care to pick up the novel. So here's yet another flailing attempt at it. 

Cynthia Brightley is an orphan, poor, and on the cusp of losing everything she's spent nearly two years building up. A scandal rocks her world in London, resulting in the dissolution of a rather impressive engagement she managed to land, and thus propelling her ever and ever closer to utter destitution. In fact, she's one two week house party away from it. 

Miles Redmond is the proud, second-now-ostensibly-first son of the Proud and Staid Redmond family. He's scholarly, bookish, has been to the South Seas and is desperate to go back. Two years ago, he was slighted by the first woman that ever took his breath away. Now he's hosting a two week house party for his parents, and his sister has brought along her new friend: the very woman who slighted him.

I will admit now, to start this review, I did not love the first in this series, The Perils of Pleasure. To this day, I still can't explain what it was about that book that didn't capture me, but it didn't. This however had me from the first page. Everything about this book worked for me on multiple levels. 

Miles is bookish and scholarly and more concerned with the mating habits of butterflies and beetles than he is with much else. But he's also adventurous and polite and mannerly and, in his own way, quite handsome. He's not the bookish sort who does nothing but read and stutter when confronted with a woman or an awkward situation. There's a wonderful complexity to Miles' devotion to his family, and his desire to travel the world, and see everything there is to see.

Likewise, Cynthia is a beautifully drawn character. I love Cynthia. I could probably spend multiple paragraphs just talking about every single thing I love about Cynthia. But what I love about her is that, from an objective point of view, everything she does in this novel is calculating and a bit ruthless, and yet, she's so wonderfully written that you absolutely sympathize with her completely. She's desperate. She makes no bones about this, she doesn't lie to herself, and she doesn't excuse it. She has no idea what will become of her if she doesn't get engaged by the end of this house party. And furthermore, she's incredibly charming and capable of finding every person's weak point. She exploits her wiles and her knowledge of people, but not in a cruel or heartless way. Cynthia sees the best in people, either because she needs to in order to keep her head above water, or because she just genuinely likes humanity. 

Throughout the novel, she draws out people's best traits, and manages to gloss over their worst. She lies and somewhat deceives, but never out of malice, and never to hurt another person. She wants a family, she wants to be loved, she wants to be safe and I can't imagine that any reader could fault her for it. 

Cynthia is somehow unbearably naive and horribly disillusioned all at once. She has a tragic backstory, but not one that overwhelms her character to the point that she becomes a travesty. Her life is what it is, and she's simply trying to survive it. But unlike many tragic heroines, she's not a victim of her circumstances. She still enjoys life, she has fun, she wants to live above all else. 

2/5 stars

I suppose I should be a little more adventurous in my reading material, or more open-minded about the things that generally cause me to put a book down. But I suppose every reader has quirks. I merely have several quirks. 

I will say, I have greatly enjoyed Julia London's books in the past. I haven't extensively read her back catalogue, but I do know that I have enjoyed her writing. But this book just had far too many things I don't like in it for me to accurately judge whether or not it's objectively good. This review will mostly be rife with spoilers that aren't contained in the summary of the book, because that's the only way I can convey what it was about this book that didn't work for me at all. So you know, spoilers for the entire book warning ahead.

The novel starts with a prologue that involves a character that isn't even the heroine until the second in this quartet. Young Lily Boudine, niece of the Earl and Countess of Ashwood, sees something she isn't quite capable of understanding at the age of 8 years old, and as a result ends up being the key witness in the eventual hanging of an innocent man for thievery. What a lovely way to start a novel.

Before we're even 25% into the novel, which is not actually ABOUT Lily, a 16 year old girl has been brutally raped and committed suicide, a fairly serious crime is in the process of being carried out, an entire family has been ruined because of a mistake, and Lily's parents and her beloved aunt have died (the aunt under mysterious possibly suicidal circumstances). Basically, this book had so many things stacked against it that it would've had to have been so mindblowingly awesome to rope me in and make me consent to loving it, and it just wasn't. 

The love story between Keira and Declan that's far too long to build up, and thus is concluded in a way that leaves sooooo much to be desired. Declan wants to be free of any entanglements, and so does Keira, but they end up getting married because she gets pregnant (that's a huge spoiler, but whatever). Like, yes, they do love each other, but Declan has no journey that leads you to believe he would've married her without that. Not to mention that there's no real story that happens after that. They spend the back part of the novel knowing they'll be separated and having no real conversations about their feelings and then they end up getting betrothed because of a pregnancy with only a few standard lines of dialogue to convince us that this isn't the worst idea either of them have ever had.

Not to mention the last chapter is back to Lily and the drama that Keira cooked up while in England and ends on a massive cliffhanger that you have to read the next book for.

Not to mention that the entire mystery of this novel isn't even remotely wrapped up. It's started.