Lady Philippa Marbury is odd. The bespectacled, brilliant fourth daughter of the Marquess of Needham and Dolby cares more for books than balls, flora than fashion and science than the season. Nearly engaged to Lord Castleton, Pippa wants to explore the scandalous parts of London she's never seen before marriage. And she knows just who to ask: the tall, charming, quick-witted bookkeeper of The Fallen Angel, London's most notorious and coveted gaming hell, known only as Cross.
Like any good scientist, Pippa's done her research and Cross's reputation makes him perfect for her scheme. She wants science without emotion—the experience of ruination without the repercussions of ruination. And who better to provide her with the experience than this legendary man? But when this odd, unexpected female propositions Cross, it's more than tempting . . . and it will take everything he has to resist following his instincts—and giving the lady precisely what she wants.
I've been not so patiently waiting for this book since I read the first book of Sarah MacLean's The Rules of Scoundrels series, A Rogue by Any Other Name. I enjoyed the first book, a lot. And my expectations for the second book were very high. And I'm very happy to say that my expectations were met and exceeded. I loved this book!
Both the main characters, Pippa and Cross, were wonderful. Pippa is what people think as odd, she is more interested in botany and anatomy than social graces; Cross is self exiled from society because of an accident he believes that he caused, wants no part of the Ton, he also has a protective streak which is very endearing. When Pippa approaches him to help with her research, he refuses, but he cannot get her out of his mind. He finds Pippa a breathe of fresh air, and ever so tempting.
The steam level in this book is out of this world! Their romance is sizzling, they definitely do not lack chemistry. Hot, hot and hot...
“I am going to ruin you, Pippa. I shall show you pleasure you’ve never known, the kind you’ve never dreamed. Over and over and over until you beg me never to stop.”
See what I mean?
The next book, Temple's story (squee moment!) is coming out in late August, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished.
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean (5/5) Historical Romance; Published: Avon (1/2013); Series: # 2, The Rules of Scoundrels; Format: Ebook for Kindle; New Release 2013 (1); Favorite Reads 2013; Books 2013 (15);
1961 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.
Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.
The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world.
I was hooked right from the beginning. This was a book that wouldn't allow me to stop reading, just one more chapter, just one more before I go to bed. And it so it went for a few hours until I realized the time, almost two in morning, and then I reluctantly put it down. I resumed reading the first chance I got. And then I was done.
I loved the way the author transported me back to a time of conflict and hope, that how it made me feel during the WWII scenes. I love how well written all the character were, some good, some nosy, some catty and some down right mean. I think it was a combination of all of this along with mystery of Dorothy and Vivian that kept me enthralled in the story. I have to say I did figure it out at the beginning, but the author kept me second guessing throughout the story. The ending felt right, even though I wanted a little bit more.
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton (5/5) Historical Fiction; Published: Atria Books (10/2012); Favorite Reads 2013; Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2013 (5); Library; Books 2013 (13);
At the heart of this collection of intimately linked stories is the relationship between a father and his son. A young fisherman washes up nearly dead on the shores of Newfoundland. It is Manuel Rebelo who has tried to escape the suffocating smallness of his Portuguese village and the crushing weight of his mother’s expectations to build a future for himself in a terra nova. Manuel struggles to shed the traditions of a village frozen in time and to silence the brutal voice of Maria Theresa da Conceicao Rebelo, but embracing the promise of his adopted land is not as simple as he had hoped.
Manuel’s son, Antonio, is born into Toronto’s little Portugal, a world of colourful houses and labyrinthine back alleys. In the Rebelo home the Church looms large, men and women inhabit sharply divided space, pigs are slaughtered in the garage, and a family lives in the shadow cast by a father’s failures. Most days Antonio and his friends take to their bikes, pushing the boundaries of their neighbourhood street by street, but when they finally break through to the city beyond they confront dangers of a new sort
I inhaled this book in one sitting! Once I began reading it, I couldn't put it down. I was swept into someplace very familiar to me. As a Portuguese Canadian I can identify with so much that the author has written.
The book is divided into two parts. The first half is narrated by Manuel. Manuel is the apple of his mother's eye, the one she hopes that will succeed in life, the one that will be important in their small village in Sao Miguel, Acores, Portugal. But Manuel has his own dreams, he doesn't want what his mother so dearly wants for me. He signs up to be a fisherman in a big ship, which brings him north, where in a freak accident he washes up on the coast of Newfoundland. A series of events leave him confused and angry, the hope that always had seems to be diminishing. He soon feels like his dreams are all slipping through his fingers.
The second is narrated by Antonio, Manuel's son. Like his mother before him, Manuel has high hopes and dreams for Antonio. For Antonio growing up in Little Portugal in Toronto is a confusing time. It like being caught between the old ways of the old country with a new ways of the new country. Which I completely understand, very well. I know the feeling of going to school and kids asking me if I ate fish all the time, or being sent traditional Portuguese dish for lunch at but just wanting to fit by having a Wonder bread sandwich. I understand the feeling of not quite living up to what the parent expects.
I read this book for a challenge, Portuguese Historical Fiction Challenge, hosted by Ana from Aneca's World.
Barnacle Love by Anthony de Da (4.5/5) Historical Fiction; Published: Doubleday Canada (2008); New Author; Portuguese Historical Fiction Challenge 2013 (1); Favorite Reads 2013; Library; Books 2013 (12);
AN EARL WHO CAN'T BE BRIBED
Gayle Windham, Earl of Westhaven, is the first legitimate son and heir to the Duke of Moreland. To escape his father's inexorable pressure to marry, he decides to spend the summer at his townhouse in London, where he finds himself intrigued by the secretive ways of his beautiful housekeeper...
A LADY WHO CAN'T BE PROTECTED...
Anna Seaton is a beautiful, talented, educated woman, which is why it is so puzzling to Gayle Windham that she works as his housekeeper.
As the two draw closer and begin to lose their hearts to each other, Anna's secrets threaten to bring the earl's orderly life crashing down - and he doesn't know how he's going to protect her from the fallout...
I would like to begin by thanking Ana from Aneca's World for introducing me to this author. It's been quite a while since I read a historical romance that has captured me as this has. So thank you Ana, I believe I have found a new must read author.
This book should also have a disclaimer on its cover, one sitting read, reader beware you may lose sleep. Which I did, but I'm not complaining because it was a very good read. I loved the setting, the time period, the characters and the story itself wasn't too shabby either. I found that Anna and Windham suited each other very well, she caring and headstrong and Windham is a no-nonsense type of gentleman who adores his large family, even the meddling members of said family. I admit at the beginning I thought it a stretch that they would become involved, master and employee, but the author had a way in drawing me in and keeping interested in the book. I'm looking forward on reading more of her books.
The Heir by Grace Burrowes (4.5/5) Historical Romance; Published: Sourcebooks Casablanca (2010); Format: Ebook for Kindle; New Author; Series: # 1, Windham; Favorite Reads 2013; Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2013 (3); Keeper Shelf; Books 2013 (4);
