The Earl is Mine by Kieran Kramer

Back Cover:
Who will be the first to surrender?

An Affair To Remember
Handsome, charismatic, and on the verge of becoming a successful architect, Gregory Sherwood, Lord Westdale, could have just about any woman he wants. So why rush to marry? So far there’s only been one woman he’s ever truly loved. But that was before she had a secret affair with his best friend…with the help of an unwitting accomplice named Lady Pippa Harrington.

A Passion Too Good To Deny
Pippa may not have acted in her old friend Gregory’s best interests, but she’s always believed that the heart sets its own rules. This is why Pippa must escape her arranged marriage—fast—by fleeing to Paris, where she hopes to pursue her artistic passions. To do so, Pippa will need all the help she can get—from Gregory, the one man she isn’t sure she can trust…or resist…

When I am in the mood for a feel-good, light, smart book I know I can count on Kieran Kramer to deliver and The Earl is Mine is no exception.  The banter and tension between Gregory and Pippa was a delight to read.  Hijinks just seem to follow Pippa and Gregory seems to be the one to deal with them, from her dressing as a man to escape a horrible marriage offer to serving as Gregory's valet (which you know leads to some very heated moments) this couple is just destined to be together. Gregory is holding a family secret very close to him and he has built some walls around him and Pippa, with her dreams of being a sugar sculpture (really loved this element, almost wish we had seen more of it!) and her determination to only marry for love, form a very unique, bold couple that have much to overcome before true feelings can be explored and delivered on.  The ending was very satisfying and answered any questions I had throughout the story.  Warmth, humor, strong family bonds and heat; Kieran Kramer delivers it all and I can't wait for more.  4 stars

House of Brady series

                                                                 Aug 27th

New Covers

Here is the latest (long) batch of lovely new covers. . .

This is the cover that was voted on for Kieran Kramers upcoming Say Yes to the Duke!!  Love it!  (Though it doesn't really 'fit' with the previous covers...) Very excited for this one!  Look for it Aug 27th.

Oh, look at this lovely red cover!  And a heroine with red hair.  Love the snow in the background :)  I really enjoyed Valerie Bowman's debut so I can't wait for Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage to come out Oct 1st!

Squee!!!  How eye catching is this green?!?  And a mask?  Ooh.  Beyond excited for this one and so happy the cover is just stunning.  Look for No Good Duke Goes Unpunished Aug 27th!

The Perks of Being a Beauty is a novella by the lovely Manda Collins set for release June 18th.  I believe this features a secondary character from her debut series.  I am so happy publishers are taking the time to make nice covers for novellas!

Miranda Neville is back with The Ruin of a Rogue.  Love that title and the cover is very sexy!  Look for it Aug 27th as well.

Grace Burrowes always has such lovely covers and Lady Jenny's Christmas Portrait is no exception.  (Christmas already?!? lol)  The green is perfect for the holidays and I adore the attention to the background detail.  Look for this one Oct 1st.

Wicked Little Secrets looks to be a new to me author.  The cover and premise have caught my attention so I hope to give this one a go on its release, Aug 6th.

Purple, my favorite :)  I like all the pretty scrollwork as well as the detail in the background.  Look for Love on a Midsummer Night Aug 6th.

Love!  The sky blue is just stunning!  Very impatient for the release of this one!  A Rake's Midnight Kiss will be out Aug 27th (boo).

And finally is the start of a new series from Sophie Barnes, The Trouble with Being a Duke.  I love that her dress has a pattern on it and masks are always intriguing :)  Look for this one Aug 27th.

Well, there you go.  Lovely, lovely covers from Avon, St Martins, Sourcebooks and Grand Central.  Now to wait. . . Which covers are your favorites??

New Covers

First up is The Earl with the Secret Tattoo by Kieran Kramer.  Love the title!  This is an ebook set within her new series, House of Brady and will be out December 18th!  Also there is a super easy pre-order (it is only 99 cents!) contest over at Romance Wrangler to help spread the word.  Chance to win $25 gift card!

Love the cover for this one and I'm so excited for it as well!  What a Wicked Earl Wants is the full length kick off to Vicky Dreiling's new series, The Sinful Scoundrels.  Sigh, its so romantic looking!  Set for publication May 28th.

Ahem, even though I own all of Meredith Duran's books, I have yet to read any of them but I plan to change that with Your Wicked Heart.  It is a novella to kick off her new series so it looks like a great place for me to start!  I really like this cover and already have it pre-ordered for its Dec 11th release.  Bonus, it is only 99 cents!

Love this cover!  Stroke of Midnight is book two in Olivia Drake's Cinderella Sisterhood series and will be out June 4th. 

Kiss Me, Kate is a ebook prequel to Tiffany Clare's new series and I am really looking forward to it.  Its a nice lovely, simple cover and a great deal at 99 cents!  This will release November 27th.

A Secret Proposal will be another ebook and is set for release January 1st.  I really enjoyed Valerie Bowman's debut so this will be on my list to get!

Oooh, pretty!  To Wed in Scandal is the second book from new author Liana LeFey (I picked up her debut this past week and can't wait to get to it!).  Look for this one May 7th.

Well, lots of great books to be had here!  Quite a few ebooks coming up, which is exciting.  Which books are you looking forward to?

Loving Lady Marcia by Kieran Kramer

Lady Marcia has grand dreams of love at the tender age of fifteen and falls hard for a dashing scoundrel and on her sixteenth birthday, he convinces her that they will run away together.  When she awakes in the morning, alone, she is confused but that quickly turns to anger as she learns her love has been shipped off to America but his older brother, Lord Chadwick to prevent them from marrying.  Knowing she is ruined and can not be among the ton she goes to a boarding school and quickly becomes the headmistress.  Marcia finds joy in being with the girls of the school and it becomes her passion to do what she can for them so when her circumstances force a drastic change, she will do whatever it takes to get her life back in control....even if it means help from an unlikely source.

Lord Chadwick, Duncan Lattimore, takes his duties as earl seriously but also faces the shun of society for taking responsibility for his son who was born on the wrong side of the blanket.  When he sees the beautiful Marcia one day, he approaches her but is quickly rebuffed coolly, much to his surprise.  Upon returning home him, he also sees that his brother has returned back to London hopefully wiser and more grown up.  A few talks show that he is still as immature and irresponsible as ever and Duncan also gets the truth about Marcia out of him.  Determined to do the honorable thing, he sets out to woo Marcia, never imaging how hard he would fall.  Now, he must help Marcia see the truth of her heart while helping her get her old life back, even though it would send her away.  It will take a desperate act for these two stubborn people to find the happiness that is within their grasp if they just would accept it.

This is the start of Kieran Kramer's new series, The House of Brady and it was a delight!  I love stories about large families that get along and this seems to be the start of another winner!  It is obviously loosely based on the tv show with the names being similar and I even noticed a few scenes that were loosely based on beloved memories from the tv show and is sure to bring a smile to many people.  Marcia was a wonderful character to read.  I loved that she was a headmistress and loved her job (gasp! A member of the ton...working?).  She is compassionate, kind, strong and bold and a wonderful foil for the yummy Duncan.  Sigh.  He is almost too perfect.  He is beyond kind and caring for his servants and I really enjoyed that.  I admired him for his dedication to his son and also how he was able to finally resolve the situation with his scoundrel brother.  The brother, who you are a bit torn about for a bit, ends up being quite a villain but he also forces Marcia to do a drastic choice that alters her life forever.  Overall, a very sweet (on the lower end of heat level), touching, romantic story that is sure to make you smile and sigh.  I can't wait to dive back into this delightful family!  (I think that is one of only quibbles...I would have liked a bit more back story on how they came to be the blended family of Brady).  4 stars

Review copy provided by St. Martins Press via netgalley.com

House of Brady series
????
Unsure of when the next books are coming out.  I think all six children will have a story so yay!

New Covers

Some new covers that were shared recently. . .

I really enjoy Alexandra Hawkins Lord of Vice series and Dusk with a Dangerous Duke will be book will be book six.  Such a lovely pink cover!  Sigh, February 26th can't get here soon enough!

Julia London also shared her cover for her upcoming book, The Last Debutante.  I am not caught up on her books but on goodreads this shows this will be book four in The Secrets of Hadley Green series.  I really like this cover!  Soft and pretty with a beautiful background and a touch of Scottish.  Look for it February 26th.

Another lovely cover reveal was for Kieran Kramer's The Earl is Mine.  Smokin red!  All of her previous books have featured prominently one color as well but in the pastel variety so this one really pops.  This will be book two in The House of Brady series and I can't wait for its release at the end of February!

Next, here is the cover for another novel in three parts from the talents of Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway.  I enjoyed their first book written like this so I am looking forward to The Lady Most Willing... when it releases Dec 26th.

Oh, one more to add quick that was shared this week!  This is the lovely cover for Ashlyn Macnamara's debut, A Most Scandalous Proposal.  If you look at it close, it has lovely texture for the wallpaper, couch and dress which I really like.  And I like the green and blue together.  Look for this one February 26th!

Ok, fine this is the last one, lol!  Miranda Neville shared she has written a prequel novella titled The Second Seduction of a Lady set to release Oct 16th.  It is a prequel to her new series and it sounds wonderful.  And the best part for me...it doesn't sound like it is going to be the cliff hanger type prequel that I like to avoid!  It will introduce the heroine for the full length but the novella focuses on a different couple.  Yay!

Well, it started off as a bit of a quiet week but picked up a little and all these books are on my wish list!  What about you, which ones are you most looking forward to?

New Covers

Just a few new covers this week :)

Maya Banks just posted this cover to her Facebook page yesterday and I can not wait to read it!!  The only highlander books I have read was her previous series and I loved them so I am so happy she is writing another series which kicks off with Never Seduce a Scot in late September.  The next Scottish book then doesn't come out until Feb of next year!  Boo!  No back to back releases this time :(  But I love the cover :)

Oh, pretty teal! The Taming of a Scottish Princess is book four in Karen Hawkins Hurst Amulet series and I believe is the final book.  I have yet to read anything by Ms Hawkins but I have heard good things about this series so I hope to get to it soon.  I love how the cover model has glasses!
 

This cover came out right after my last cover post and it fits in perfectly with the first book in the Smythe-Smith Quartet series.  I am hoping the pop of the pink shoe factors into the story as the red show from the previous book did.  The midnight blue is very pretty and mysterious as well.  Look for A Night Like This May 29th.

Another lovely cover for book three in Liz Carlyle's Fraternitas trilogy.  The white is very serene but I really like the pop of green as the backdrop. The Bride Wore Pearls is out July 31st.

And finally here is an early glimpse of the upcoming Loving Lady Marcia (Aug 28th).  Kieran Kramer has not officially shown her cover so it may be tweaked a bit.  (Last time she had a pink cover they changed it to green so I think the pink will stay this time.)  It is the start of a new series from her titled 'The House of Brady' and I love the little quote "Everyone loves Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" LOL  Looking forward to a blurb about this book as Ms Kramer writes some wonderful, light hearted humorous stories. 

Well, thats all I noticed while out and about cyber land this week.  Any great new covers catch your eye this week?

Early November releases

Wow, can you believe it is almost November already??  Here are some of the upcoming historical romance books you can look for at the beginning of the month, enjoy!

November 1st



The Pleasure of Bedding a Baroness is a new to me author and I love the cover so I will be trying her out :) I can not wait to get my hands on The Virtuoso! I feel like the previous two books have had a lot of momentum for Vals story! And since If You Give A Girl A Viscount seems to loosely be based on Cinderella, well, I'm all for that :) And finally, Engaged in Sin sounds like an excellent, spicy romance with a tortured hero left blind from the war that is always right up my alley!

Also releasing November 1st are two interesting sounding historicals that are a bit out of my normal range but I am looking forward to, nevertheless :)

Cloudy with a Chance of Marriage by Kieran Kramer

This is book number three in Kramers Impossible Bachelors series, and for me, it was just kind of meh. Nothing really stood out as super funny or cute like with her previous two books, which each had moments of laughter and silly smiles. I read this book last weekend and now a week later I am having a hard time remembering what it was all about. Our heroine, Jilly, opens a bookstore on Dreary Lane, and yes, it is dreary. Her neighbor is Captain Samuel who lives life with much more ease than Jilly does, who is on the run from her hateful husband. There are some wonderful supporting characters that help this book move along and Jilly and Samuel have a very sweet courtship and when trouble arises, Samuel does turn his back on Jilly but thankfully is persuaded to remember the Jilly he knows in his heart, not what is thrown in his face.

Overall, not a bad book...just not what I was in the mood for I think so that is part of the reason for the short review. I still look forward to more from Ms Kramer! 3 stars

Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right by Kieran Kramer

This is Kieran Kramers second book in the Impossible Bachelors series and I thoroughly enjoyed it! If you are in the mood for a light, funny, laugh at loud romance with a delightful, spirited heroine and a dashing, spy hero this is the book for you. We get reacquainted with the second of four Impossible Bachelors, the Duke of Drummond, Nicholas Staunton (though he was know as Lord Maxwell I believe in the first book) who needs to marry to stay a member of the Service. Now, Lady Poppy Smith-Barnes has turned downed numerous proposals because she is a member of the Spinster club....they will only marry for love, nothing else. She always says in her rejection, that her heart belongs to the Duke of Drummond, whom she believes is not real. Needless to say, when the real Duke turns up....she is forced to accept his proposal or be ridiculed by everyone in the ton.
They hi jinks that accrue after this fact are quite fun. Poppy accidentally discovers that Nicholas is working undercover in the Service on a highly sensitive mission and he is forced to tell her the details and enlist her help. Her help comes in handy as they need to stay close to the Prince and Princess of Russia to get a painting away from them. Poppy has had a childhood crush on Sergei since she was a teenager and finds it very easy to be around him, until he reveals his true self to her. And Nicholas, unfortunately, had a brief relationship with Natasha beforehand and is forced to endure her advances, even though he despises her. Ugh, Natasha...what a vile female!! And Sergei is no better! But as Poppy and Nicholas work together, their feelings for each deepen.
The one thing that bothered me with this book was the ending. Once again, like When Harry Met Molly, so much happens in the final chapters it is overwhelming. Its like...bam...bam...bam...and another bam. I just wished some of the secrets had been exposed a bit sooner instead of one right after another. Besides that fact, this is a fun, lively book and I look forward to Ms Kramers third novel, Cloudy With A Chance Of Marriage! 4 1/2 stars

When Harry Meet Molly by Kieran Kramer

This is the debut novel from Kieran Kramer and it is a delightful one! This premise is a bit far off, Harry convinces Molly to be his pretend mistress to win the "Most Delectable Companion" contest after his real mistress runs off with her supposed fiance whom she is eloping with to Gretna Green. Harry and Molly have a history with each other and despise each other as a result of it. This, of course, leads to many smart remarks to each other and growing sexual tension. Once they arrive at the hunting box to start the competition, Harry starts to teach Molly how to be a mistress...and "practice" kissing. There are many hijinks that happen that will give you some good chuckles. The sexual tension that builds between Harry and Molly is very believable and the fact that Harry does not actually formally compromise her was a nice surprise to me.

I very much enjoyed this book until the last couple of chapters. So much happened it was a bit overwhelming, like Ms Kramer was trying to wrap up too many loose ends all at once at a big ball. The whole book is a bit silly, which is fine to me, but the ending was just a bit too much. Overall though, this is a great start to what will be a hopefully wonderful new author to the historical romance genre! I look forward to the next two books in the series, Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right and Cloudy With A Chance Of Marriage! If you are looking for a fun, sweet book to curl up with, grab this one! 4 stars