Thursday, September 27, 2018

Review: The Wicked Marquis by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Wicked Marquis
Series: Blackhaven Brides
Author: Mary Lancaster
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: February 17, 2018
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
ASIN: B079WNDG77

The lady meets her match—and he's hopelessly ineligible.

Poverty stricken marquis, Lord Tamar, is regarded in Blackhaven as an amiable eccentric and a gifted painter, rather than as a wicked man. But Tamar has secrets that he dare not reveal to anyone, let alone to the delightful Lady Serena, the Earl of Braithwaite's sister, who suddenly lights up his world.

To Serena, fed up with London etiquette and sent home to her family castle in disgrace after her engagement is broken, the fascinating Tamar is a breath of fresh air. Accepting his help with the mystery of the strange barrels in the castle cellar, she is soon in the midst of danger involving smugglers and spies and a friend's broken heart.

But it is her own heart which is in most danger, as she falls swiftly and desperately in love. And neither her family nor Tamar himself would ever countenance a marriage between them. Moreover, the marquis turns out to have committed a far more shocking crime than mere poverty.


My rating:

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Review: The Wicked Husband by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Wicked Husband
Series: Blackhaven Brides
Author: Mary Lancaster
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: January 4, 2018
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
ASIN: B078FZGWY2

Notorious young rakehell, Lord Daxton, wakes up in Blackhaven with a monumental hangover—and a wife...

Willa Blake, his old childhood friend and poor relation of his sworn enemy, has her own reasons for eloping with him to Gretna Green—not least the fact that she’s been in love with him since she was fourteen years old. Now they both have to face the consequences of their hasty marriage, which include not only scandal but attempted murder, accusations of theft and several duels, not to mention the fury of Daxton’s mistress and the determination of his mother to have the marriage annulled.

​Yet among all the chaos and unexpected fun of life with Daxton, Willa’s childish crush deepens into adult love. But will Dax, a man of impulse and passion, ever face up to his responsibilities, let alone return her love?


My rating:

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Review: The Wicked Rebel by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Wicked Rebel
Series: Blackhaven Brides
Author: Mary Lancaster
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: October 18, 2017
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
ASIN: B076KQRPJT

At eight-and-twenty, Lady Arabella Niven is gentle, sickly, and firmly on the shelf. Having disobliged her father by refusing her last chance of marriage, she has been sent in disgrace to Blackhaven with two domineering aunts. Her one wish is to be left alone in a quiet cottage to write books on history.

However, everything changes when she tries to rescue a naked man apparently drowning at sea. Thus begins an odd, fun friendship that quickly becomes passionate. For Captain Alban, the hero with a shady past, is rebellious and unconventional by nature.

Marriage between such a man and a duke’s daughter is inconceivable, and yet Alban’s feelings for her drive him to face his past in order to create a new future that would be unendurable without her.

Oppressive family, neglected children, fortune hunters, past loves, and old crimes all contrive to keep the pair apart. But when danger threatens Alban, it is the duke’s gentle daughter who rides to his rescue.


My rating:

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Review: The Wicked Lady by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Wicked Lady
Series: Blackhaven Brides
Author: Mary Lancaster
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
ASIN: B0757V7JYD

The scandalous widow...and the curate?

Newly widowed, wicked Kate Crowmore is in trouble. Scandal has broken over her head and someone is trying to kill her. When she seeks refuge in Blackhaven, she doesn’t expect a clergyman to be the solution to both these problems!

Tristram Grant is not just any clergyman. The cast-off, illegitimate son of an earl, and a one-time army officer of great promise, the charismatic new curate is making his mark in Blackhaven. As soon as he sees the beautiful, defiant Kate, he sets his heart on her. And he is used to achieving his goals. But Kate, finally free of a disastrous marriage that almost broke her, has no intention of marrying anyone ever again—supposing she survives the attempts on her life.

Grant’s courtship, like his pursuit of her enemies, is unorthodox, fun and curiously seductive. However, he has secrets of his own and when he deliberately frees a French prisoner of war, Kate realizes he could be more dangerous than she imagined.

Then, as if life isn’t complicated enough, her old scandal catches us with her again, in the shape of Lord Vernon, whom the world imagines is her lover—and he wants to marry her too....


My rating:

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Review: The Wicked Baron by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Wicked Baron
Series: Blackhaven Brides
Author: Mary Lancaster
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: July 12, 2017
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
ASIN: B073X8RN48

Orphan Gillie Muir makes ends meet by holding genteel card parties for friends and visitors to the newly fashionable spa town of Blackhaven. But when Lord Wickenden, known as the Wicked Baron, makes her a shocking proposal, her world is turned upside down.

Jaded and bored, Lord Wickenden has his own reasons for joining the house party at Braithwaite Castle. One of them is to oblige an ex-mistress by detaching her son from the local gaming den hussy who has ensnared him. But, confronted by Gillie’s unexpected charm and innocence, Wickenden abandons his original plan of simply taking her for himself.
Instead, he becomes embroiled in her bizarre problems, which include saving her reputation and her life, keeping the Watch away from her card parties, and hiding an injured smuggler who was once kind to her.

The infuriating and devastating Wickenden soon has Gillie’s heart in a spin. But when she discovers he means to fight a duel over her—and everyone knows the wicked baron never misses - she’ll go to any length to save his life and his soul. Even elope with another man.


My rating:

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Review: Mistress Spy by Pamela Mingle

Title: Mistress Spy
Author: Pamela Mingle

Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: August 27, 2018
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Amara)
ASIN: 1640636218

A determined sister...
Madeleine Vernon’s dreams should be filled with elegant gowns and marriageable men. Instead, she dreams of avenging her brother’s death. But when she’s captured by the queen’s men, she’s forced to become a spy by her mysterious yet undeniably attractive captor.

A rakish spy...
After years of working for his father in Queen Elizabeth’s service, Nicholas Ryder is close to going his own way. But now he’s got a feisty beauty he must protect or risk her execution as a traitor to the crown. She’s a distraction he can’t afford, but he also can’t stop thinking about her.

A dangerous lie...
It is Nicholas’s job to foil plots against Elizabeth, and he sends Maddy into a household of suspected traitors to garner what information she can. As the line between captor and prisoner blurs, deceit, betrayal, and desire become a perilous mix. Ultimately, Nicholas must decide whether duty to the queen is more important than winning Maddy’s heart.


My rating:

Wednesday, September 19, 2018