Promise Canyon by Robyn Carr

It is that time of the year again to return to my favorite small town, Virgin River. This entire series is a delight and I am so glad Ms Carr continues to write more books in this series :) This time around we meet a couple of new characters, Clay Tahoma and Lily Yazhi. Clay has come to Virgin River to work with Nate and Annie (That Holiday Feeling) as a vet assistant and he meets the feed delivery woman, Lily. They are instantly attracted to each, and not just because they are both of Native American, though rival tribes, descent but also for their love of horses.
Clay is coming away from a divorce that he just can't quite break off completely and Lily has a troubled past from when she was just fifteen that has made her very cautious with men. She takes very good care of her grandfather and really only seems to have her best gay friend Dean. I hope we get to see a bit more of Dean because he had one of the most laugh out loud moments for me in this book! Lily finds an abandoned horse and calls on Nate and Clay to help her and Lily remembers her deep love she had for riding and slowly starts to visit the stables everyday to see her....and Clay. Clay is patient with her, and thankfully, the enemy tribe situation is just something they laugh at and is not a problem for them, or really anyone in the extended family. They continue to bond over horses and life and when they take it to the next level, whew....pretty steamy and passionate this time around! Of course we have to have a big misunderstanding to work thorough and that comes in the form of Clays ex wife who just can not let go. Oh but the ending is so sweet it brought tears to me eyes! It was a perfect ending to this book!
Some of the side stories this time around involve Jack, Mel, and Hope and how the town reacts to a situation which really disappoints Jack. We also get to see some more of the yummy Riordan brothers after Colin has an accident and who is featured in the next story, Wild Man Creek and I can not wait to read that one! Is it necessary to read the previous books? Well...no...but should you, yes! This entire series is a wonderful story of what we can all hope a small town could be like. But for this story, I give it a solid 4 stars, a great addition to the series!
I recieved this ebook from netgalley.com

Unveiled by Courtney Milan

Loved. That's all I have to say. Ok, just kidding...but really, I absolutely enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have read from Courtney Milan and I am very happy that I have purchased her two previous books (Proof by Seduction and Trial by Desire) because I can not wait to read them if they are anything like Unveiled!

What did I love about this book? The hero, Ash Turner for one. He has harbored ill feelings to the Duke of Palford for turning him away when he was young and his two brothers and sister needed help desperately. As a result of the Dukes coldness, his young sister died and Ash vowed to seek revenge on the man. So when he finds out the Duke is actually still married to his first wife, now living in America, he brings forth the bigamy charge against him and thus discrediting his second wife and their three children, two sons and a daughter. As it happens, his two sons went to school with Ashs two younger brothers and they got into a few scuffles due to their distaste of each other.

This brings me to the next point of enjoyment in this book, the heroine, Lady Anna Margaret Dalrymple, Duke Palfords daughter. After being declared a bastard and all her society friends turning their backs on her, it is decided she will remain at Parford Manor and act as a nursemaid to her father while her brothers try to secure necessary votes to remain the heirs to the dukedom. When Ash and Margaret meet, sparks fly. You would think Ash would be a cold, heartless man based on his previous manners but he turns out to be a honorable, caring, loyal and protective man of his family. He repeatedly makes people understand that you matter, you are important, regardless of station in life. As Ash and Margaret get closer, Ash continues to be a gentleman allowing Margaret to make the decisions. Margaret takes this all in along with knowledge that could destroy Ashs chance at claiming the dukedom and finds the strength to follow her heart.

There are numerous other points of the story that I loved....when Ash finally realizes who Margaret is and his reaction to it....Ashs love and protection and need to fit in with his brothers....Margarets resolve to help her brothers even though they basically turn their backs on her to better themselves. I do not really want to say too much more about the plot but the way everything is resolved will leave a smile on your face. This was a wonderful book and I can not wait to purchase it and read it again in Jan! And I eagerly await the next in the series, Unclaimed, in Oct! 5 stars

I received this ebook from netgalley.com

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

Midnight Kiss by Robyn Carr, Jean Brashear, Victoria Dahl

Midnight Confessions by Robyn Carr

This is a sweet short story in the wonderful Virgin River series. I'm not going to say much about this one because if you have read the previous books you will read this one to get a quick glimpse of what Virgin River is up to on New Years eve. If you have not read the series, this is just an all right read probably about two people trying to heal over getting left at the alter (her) and a broken engagement (him). It takes place over only one day, which I did not like, and its only 100 pages so I was left wanting more....which hopefully I will get in this new set of books coming out this year! 3 1/2 stars

Midnight Surrender by Jean Brashear

This was a pleasant surprise for me. I have not read anything by this author but I will be looking into her other books because Ms Brashear did a great job telling a sweet, hot love story in about 100 pages. Jordan comes off pretty stuck up and bitchy but sweet Irishman Will persists and helps Jordan discover that love isn't all that bad. I wish this would have been a full length novel because I would have loved to have seen more interaction between these two! 4 stars

Midnight Assignment by Victoria Dahl

This was another winner from one of my favorite authors. We meet Noah and Elise, FDIC agents, who are about to take over a failing bank. Having worked at a bank that changed hands recently, I was really intrigued by the storyline and felt Dahl did a great job with it. Noah and Elise had worked together before and shared a kiss but parted on uneven terms and need to overcome those terms this time which leads to some steamin romance. I also would have enjoyed this one as a full length novel but this short story was excellent and hot. 4 stars

Passions of a Wicked Lord by Lorraine Heath

This was my first Lorraine Heath novel and while not spectacular, I will try some of her previous works. Fair warning, if you do not like books with a cheating husband this book is probably not for you. The opening chapter has our hero, Morgan Lyons, Earl of Westcliffe, at his mistresses home only to return home to find his estranged wife, Claire, is back in London. Claire had been promised in marriage to Westcliffe even before she was born and they were married shortly after her seventeenth birthday. She obviously has serious reservations about her wedding night to this tall, meanincing looking man who would not play with her and her sister and his brother as children. So in all who wisdom and maturity agrees to Stephens, Westcliffes younger brother, plan of postponing the wedding night by being together, clothed, in bed. However, instead of talking with them like they thought he would, Westcliffe packs Claire up and ships her off to the country estate with no chance of explanation. Now three years later she is back in London to give her sister a Season in hopes of finding her a promising marriage offer.
There are numerous ups and downs as they try to feel out their relationship and discover that they really never had one. It's hard to believe that only three years have passed and Claire is so much more mature and daring but that's the way it is. The storyline moved along nicely but had many moments of frustration and there is a bit at the end I didn't really feel connected the best. Overall, still an easy read, as long as you can move past the fact Westcliffe continues to see his mistress (but does not sleep with) after Claire returns. I am looking forward to Stephens story, Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman (London's Greatest Lovers, #2) but will probably just get it from the library, based on some early reviews for it. I have seen many great reviews for Ms Heaths previous works, so I look forward to reading those and hoping this one was just a slight miss for me. 3 1/2 stars

A Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior by Suzanne Enoch

In book two of Suzanne Enochs Adventurers' Club series we meet the delightful, but very proper, Theresa and the surly wounded Colonel Bartholomew James. First, let me say that is just the most awful name to me and his nickname of Tolly just isn't much better! But, if you can get past the name problem this is another fun, easy read.
Tess and Tolly meet each other at Tollys brothers home (his wife is Tess' cousin) where he is trying to heal his bad knee that he received as a result of a horrible attack by the Thuggee. Almost instantly they are attracted to each other and Tess starts to do some improper things that she clearly mentions in her booklet she wrote, that a proper lady must never do. She speaks her mind quite clearly to Tolly and that intrigues him, especially her parting comment of "you may watch me dance", as Tolly is incapable of dancing at the moment due to his poorly healing knee. Oh course, Tolly turns up at the next dance and has another amusing chat with Tess and she boldly speaks her mind to him again and even allows him to kiss her. Another big no-no in Tess' booklet of proper behavior for ladies.
As they continue on with their flirting, it gradually deepens into something more. Tolly has his knee rebroken in hopes of setting it correctly to it may heal. As Tess was at his home to "visit" her cousin, she heard his screams and came to assist in the surgery. Right before he passes out, he tells her he did it so he could dance with her someday. So sweet! Naturally, he denies it later when she mentions it but they both know it to be true.
The side story was very well done I thought. Tolly is obviously dealing with PTSD and deep emotional issues from his tragedy with the Thuggee. Tess is able to break through this emotional walls he has built up around himself. But the officials of the East India Company are denying that Tollys tale for fear of losing lots of money due to fear of traveling and being attacked and killed by the Thuggee. Which results in a huge cloud of suspension and disgust for Tolly and he refuses to bring Tess into his mess. Her reaction at first bothered me but thankfully she turns it around and does the right thing.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a bit better that the first but I wished we had seen Tess be a bit more proper before meeting Tolly. They meet by the second chapter and Tess is always saying she needs to be proper but we really never got a sense of that beforehand. We did learn the reason why she feels the need to be so proper and how it helps her connect to Tolly, but I guess a preface of some sort would have been nice for me. Looking forward to starting the next book, Rules of an Engagement, soon and I really hope with get the delish Duke of Sommersets book after that!! 4 stars