Sunday Salon: Reading Cravings

Before I get to my post proper today, just wanted to mention a couple of things. Firstly, I am still reading for a good cause! Thanks to my blogging friends who have sponsored me to read for The Novel Readathon, raising money for the MS Society. Going to have to put the hard word on some of my non blogging friends I think!

Secondly, I was invited to contribute to a new blog ezine this week and my post is now up! A String of Pearls is run by 5 women and they are blogging about all sorts of different topics. I was invited to contribute, and when I finally thought about what I wanted to say, it was all about reading (of course) or more precisely about not reading.  Read my guest post here.

Today I want to talk about reading cravings.

Normally when I finish a book I look at what is due back next at the library, or what is due for review in order to decide exactly which book it is that I am going to read next. Given that the books that are on my list are varied that means I could pick up some historical fiction or a mystery or fantasy or whatever, just whatever is due next.

For the last month or so though, I have been craving one particular type of read - romance. Now nothing has changed in my life as to why I would be craving romance. My single status has been the same for nearly 9 years now and I just don't see it changing any time soon so it isn't anything to do with that. The fact remains that for the time being I just can't get enough and I am ignoring what is due next on my list in order to read them. It also doesn't matter what sub genre - contemporary, historical and also a little bit of erotic romance. The only sub genre that I haven't been reading that I normally do is paranormal romance, but who knows, that could change soon. I certainly have a few unread paranormal romances sitting on the bookshelf.

It also could be old favourite authors, or new to me authors - I have tried seven new authors to me in the last month.

Some months I read a couple of  romances in amongst the other novels, but so far in July in particular it is the other way around - I have read two non romances, and everything else has been romance.

Back in the beginning of June I read Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by new to me author Sarah Maclean. I think though the book that really started this bout of romance craving for me was Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn. I bought the book when I was in the city meeting up with some fellow romance readers and I read it that day. As soon as I read that book I was scanning my shelves looking for the two other Julia Quinn books I knew I had there that I hadn't yet read which were The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever and Mr Cavendish, I Presume, both of which had been languishing on my shelves unread for a couple of years. I also read What Happens in London and now have to wait for the next book to come in from the library.

Things got a little bit steamier when I read two erotic romances, The Relic by Maggie Nash and Friendly Fire by Megan Hart, and then back to historical romances when I read How to Woo a Reluctant Lady by Sabrina Jeffries. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series that book is part of!

A couple of months ago I posted about The Virgin River series where I talked about the fact that I don't read books in a series back to back and I don't really read contemporary romance. It seems that those things are no longer really true!

The next books I read were Exclusively Yours, Undeniably Yours and Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey.  Sometimes the premise may be a bit thin but the books themselves were so good! For example, one of the premises is a fake engagement, and at the time I read it I thought surely that doesn't happen in this day and age. Having said that, all the news outlets are suggesting that the recent marriage of Prince Albert of Monaco is a marriage of convenience, so who knows, maybe it does still happen. Maybe I should try and find a fake boyfriend to try and fix my non-existent love life? If there were more books in this series I would quite happily have kept on reading them.

Next up were Goddess of the Hunt and Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare. When these books came out a couple of years ago there was such a buzz about them I ended up buying them. Normally I try new to me authors from the library. I do think that maybe I should have read them when I bought them instead of two years later!

Finally, two more new to me contemporary authors - Simply Irrestistible by Jill Shalvis and Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James. I think I have decided that I like the whole small town contemporary romance thoroughly enjoying Simply Irresistible in particular, and I have the next book on request from the library already!

So these are the books that have been keeping me up late at night for the last month or so.

Do you ever find yourself craving a particular type of book? Do you indulge that craving?

Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries

"Don't let yourself be fooled, Madeline: once a rake, always a rake." -- Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress

When Madeline Prescott took a teaching position at Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies, it was to help restore her father's reputation. Instead, she's in danger of ruining her own. The devilishly handsome Anthony Dalton, Viscount Norcourt, has agreed to provide "rake lessons" to Mrs. Harris's pupils so they can learn how to avoid unscrupulous gentlemen, and Madeline is to oversee his classes. She has always believed that attraction is a scientific matter, easily classified and controlled -- until she's swept into the passionate desire that fiercely burns between her and Anthony. Nothing could be more illogical than risking everything for a dalliance with a rake -- even one who's trying to behave himself. Yet nothing could be more tempting....

Sabrina Jeffries is one of those authors that I thought I should love and I just could never quite figure out why I hadn't really connected with her writing style and I was beginning to think that I never would really connect. (Eloisa James is another author I think this about). Then I read Beware of a Scot's Revenge and I was really surprised by how much I liked it, but then I didn't want to get that excited in case it was a once-off, but I am glad to say that it was not because this one was great!

Having an experienced rake give a virginal young lady lessons in how to catch a husband is one of the standard story lines of historical romance, along with secret babies and marriages of convenience. What Sabrina Jeffries has done with this book is to take that standard and give it a twist. Anthony Dalton, Lord Norcourt, is a well known rakehell with a penchant for widows. When he needs to try and save his niece Tessa from his very scary aunt and uncle who currently have guardianship of her, he arrives at Mrs Harris' school looking for a place for her there. There he meets Miss Madeline Prescott who is something of a blue stocking and naturalist. Given that the school is currently not taking new students, and especially not at the request of one of those pesky rakes that headmistress Mrs Harris detests so much, Madeline comes up with an idea to have a new teacher at the school - a rake who can teach their students what to look out for when they go out into society - Lord Norcourt.

What isn't clear to either Mrs Harris or Lord Norcourt is that Madeline has her own reasons for wanting to spend time with him. He thinks he can give her a few lessons in pleasure but she has decided that he can arrange things so that she can meet one of his scientist friends who she believes can help save her doctor father from a scandal surrounding his use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on a young woman who subsequently died.

With both Anthony and Madeline having their own agendas the opportunities to spend time together are quickly mounting up as is the attraction between the two of them. With Madeline determined to attend one of the notorious nitrous oxide gas parties to try and meet up with Sir Humphrey and Anthony having decided that Madeline must not be a virgin because of the whiff of scandal that he suspects already surrounds her, the opportunities for half truths to be told and for misunderstandings leads to a night of passion that neither party will forget any time soon.

I really enjoyed this whole story, but there are two things that stopped me from giving this book a perfect score. One is that with the ending, there had been so much build up around the scandal that Madeline's father had been involved in that the way that it was resolved seemed to be an easy way out. The other thing was the hero's tendency to call his penis 'bad boy' and not in a fun way. It did make sense in terms of the way he thought of himself but it did get a bit old after a while.

I am looking forward to reading more in this series, but if I have to be honest, the one that I am waiting for is when we get Charlotte Harris' story and we get to find out exactly who the mysterious Cousin Michael really is and get to see the sparks fly when they meet in real life and not just through their correspondence!

Only a Duke Will Do by Sabrina Jeffries

"You can't avoid him forever, Louisa. Just tell him you're not interested, and put an end to it."
—Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress

Marry? Never! It would end Louisa North's work with her ladies reform group—and truth be told, she likes her independence very much, despite her royal father's protests. So when Simon Tremaine, the dashing Duke of Foxmoor whom she once loved—and had exiled from England—returns bent on marrying her, she's skeptical. Does he truly care for her, or does he simply want revenge? It's difficult to resist Simon's dangerous charms, because the fire between them still burns as hot as ever. But when his ulterior motive for marriage is exposed, along with the deeply buried secrets of his past, Louisa vows to make him pay ... and the price will be his heart.

I have wanted to read Louisa and Simon's story ever since it was the background story in To Pleasure a Prince. The main couple in that book were Louisa's brother Marcus and Simon's sister Regina, and as such, they both play pretty major roles in this book as well! Without wanting to give too much away Simon broke Louisa's heart, and in this book, he has now returned to London following a successful governorship in India seven years down the track.

The instant that he sees Louisa he knows that she still affects him, despite her protestations. Simon is determined that he will have Louisa as his wife, despite the fact that he knows that he is incapable of loving her, as a result of the bizarre training that his statesman grandfather gave him when he was a young man. The fact that her father (who happens to be the King) is prepared to back his political aims should he be successful in both marrying her, and also in stopping her from her participation in her political group is a bonus.

For the most part I really enjoyed this book, although there was an awful lot of politics in this book, and at time they did get in the way of the love story. For example, there is more than one scene where the amorous activities between the two were used to trade off promises relating to the various political activities that the two of them were undertaking. Having said that, the work that Louisa was involved in in terms of prison reforms was very interesting in it's own right, and was borrowed directly from the pages of history.

Simon's search for documents relating to his cousin dovetailed really nicely with the novella in the School for Heiresses novella which I read earlier this year. Now I need to decide if I want to buy the next book in this series, because my library doesn't have it!

I think I will!

Rating 4/5

Never Seduce a Scoundrel by Sabrina Jeffries

Bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries's enticing new series introduces the spirited graduates of Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies — unconventional heiresses who are more than matches for society's most irresistible rogues....

"Be careful, Amelia — you know how reckless you can be!"

— Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress

Lady Amelia Plume has many admirers — it's too bad they're all fortune hunters and fops who can't provide the exotic adventures she seeks. But the ballrooms of Mayfair have become much more appealing since the arrival of Major Lucas Winter, an American with a dark past and a dangerous air. Lucas is brash, arrogant — and scandalously tempting. Every thrilling kiss sparks hotter desire, yet Amelia suspects that Lucas has a hidden motive in wooing her. And she intends to discover it, by any means necessary....

This is the first book in current series by Sabrina Jeffries which will feature young ladies who have attended Miss Harris' school that has been nicknamed The School for Heiresses. I do like this as a set up for a series - much better than having a series with a brother, three sisters and two cousins or whatever! It gives the author a chance to write stories about completely different characters, and really only have the loosest of connections between them, without losing the cohesiveness of the series. The School for Heiresses anthology that I read earlier this year demonstrated this flexibility really well.

Lady Amelia Plume is desperate for adventure, but when it comes along in the form of Major Lucas Winter, could it be more adventure than she can cope with? I did like this book, but as I sit here trying to figure out why, I'm not sure I can say why.

We'll start with a couple of things - initially I really liked the interactions between Amelia and Lucas. Their repartee was witty, and yet still manages to be serious and fun at the same time. I liked Lucas' tortured past which used a little known episode of English-American history as the basis (well not for him, just the way it's written), and his reactions to certain situations made perfect sense!

I didn't mind Amelia either. She seemed quite intelligent, although she could turn on the giggly society maiden at will when necessary as well!

I liked the set up that was done for at least one more book down the track, although I am hopeful that Mrs Harris gets to fall in love with her faithful letter writer/source of information! Can I just say I have been waiting for the book that is next in this series for me since I read the Royal Brotherhood books. Saying so is completely irrelevant to this review, but that's okay!

But...and there is a but....I am not 100% sure about a couple of things that happened in this book! Firstly, there was the whole obsessive suitor routine. It kind of built up for a little bit, and then was solved. Other than ensuring that our hero and heroine got from point A to point B, that whole aspect of the plot was kind of unnecessary. The second one was one of the major scenes in the book towards the end of it between Lucas and Amelia that was very intense, but maybe a bit too cold and calculated on both sides for most of the scene that I am not sure was really necessary.

If it wasn't for those two scenes I would probably have given this 4.5/5 but instead I am marking it down to 4.

I am definitely looking forward to the next book though...wait...I already said that!

Rating 4/5

One Night with a Prince by Sabrina Jeffries

Continuing her irresistible Royal Brotherhood Series, bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries introduces the third of three half-noble half brothers — the brashest rogue in all of London.

Proper Lady Christabel, the Marchioness of Haversham, is desperate to regain some letters that could destroy her — so desperate that she pretends to be the mistress of notorious gaming-club owner Gavin Byrne to accompany him to a scandalous house party where she can reclaim them. But when she agreed to let Byrne coach her on how a true mistress behaves, she never suspected how very...persuasive his wicked lessons would be.

Gavin is secretly determined to find the letters himself and use them for revenge against the noble sire who abandoned him to grow up in London's worst slums. He's also delighted at how very successful his "mistress lessons" are: it won't be long before the luscious young widow is in his bed. But when Christabel catches Gavin in his own seductive net, he faces a difficult choice: to wreak the vengeance he's planned all his life, or to protect the woman he may — to his own astonishment — need more than revenge.

And we get to the final book in the Royal Brotherhood series. I hadn't read any Sabrina Jeffries before I started reading this series.

This book was definitely a better entry in the series than the last one, In the Princes Bed, which I thought was pretty average.

I do tend to enjoy the mistress at a house party plot, and have enjoyed several over the last couple of years. In this book the chemistry between Christabel and Gavin is palpable - they fight, and they love, Gavin reveals more of himself to her than he has to any of his previous mistresses and Christabel learns to love as well.

The whole searching for letters thing was possible a little overdone, as were the gambling reference, but the final scenes were definitely suspenseful and well written.

Whilst I did like the three books in this trilogy, I am not yet completely enamoured with them! I liked them enough to start reading another series from her, and to see how they go!

Rating: 4/5

To Pleasure a Prince by Sabrina Jeffries

Bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries pens the sizzling story of one of three half-noble half brothers, who makes a most unwelcome entrance into society...and a most unexpected match.

Beautiful Lady Regina Tremaine has turned down so many suitors that she's called La Belle Dame Sans Merci. The truth: she won't marry because she carries a dark secret. She sees no good reason, however, why her brother shouldn't court the lovely Louisa North — even if the girl's brother, the notorious "Dragon Viscount," objects.

Marcus North, Viscount Draker — bastard son of the Prince of Wales — is rumored to be a monster who holds women captive in his dark castle to have his way with them. He has been exiled from polite society for years. But when Lady Regina makes a plea on her brother's behalf, Marcus proposes an outrageous deal: her brother can court Louisa so long as Marcus can court Regina. Can the beauty and the beast survive a proper courtship when the devastatingly improper passion between them threatens to cause the scandal of the century?

When I finish a book, I add the details to the two spreadsheets I maintain, start a blog post and just write a couple of sentences of my initial thoughts, and then much later down the track (depending on how far behind I am on reviews) I write the actual review. These are the two sentences that I wrote in respect of this book:

Never really got the chemistry between H/H. Dragon thing got a bit old after a while.

The funny thing is that as I sit here 3 weeks after finishing it, I actually think that I really did like it more than I did when I finished it straight away. Sure the dragon thing did still get old, but I do think that maybe I was a little harsh about the chemistry, and I am certainly anxious to get hold of the spin off story that is going to be told in Only a Duke Will Do. Doesn't really make a lot of sense, and is not really all that usual for me to have this kind of delayed reaction.

Lady Regina Tremaine is known as La Belle Sans Merci because of her ruthless attitude towards marriage - there is no way known that she will be marrying, because of the defect that she believes that she has. She is determined that no one will ever get close enough to her to find out the truth about her, and that that is the way it is going to stay. When she goes to visit Viscount Draker alone and unannounced, she does so to ask for Marcus' permission for her brother, Simon Tremaine, to court his younger sister, Louisa. She is currently enjoying her coming out season in London, hosted by Marcus' half brother, the Earl of Iversley, whose story was told in the first book in the series, In the Prince's Bed. At first Marcus is reluctant, but eventually he agrees, but only on the condition that Louisa allows herself to appear to be courted by him.

At first Louisa is mortified...after all, Marcus is known as the "Dragon Viscount", and his appearance and manners could definitely use some improvements, but for the sake of her brother, she accepts. And soon, she realises that he is more than just the Dragon Viscount. He is fiercely protective of his sister, and in particular relation to any rumours about her possible parentage, and he is sure that Simon Tremaine is in league with the Prince of Wales, and not in love with his sister at all.

Eventually Louisa sees beneath the bluster to the man underneath, and he founds out about her condition. I did think that the resolution of this matter was solved far too easily and quickly, but it is certainly a different dilemma for a heroine to have.

The dragon symbolism was overdone in my opinion, particularly towards the end of the novel. I am very interested in reading Louisa's story. And because I need to read in order, that means that I will read the next half brother's story, although I am not terribly excited by the prospect of doing so.

If I was to rate this book today, I would probably rate is as 3.5/5, but at the time that I finished it, I gave it 3/5.

The School for Heiresses Anthology

Inspired by New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries's School for Heiresses series, this delightful anthology features four young women who learn that there's nothing textbook about love. .

"It is better not to marry at all than to marry badly."

-- Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress

At the School for Heiresses, the lessons go far beyond etiquette and needlepoint. In addition to teaching her students how to avoid fortune hunters, headmistress and founder Charlotte Harris proposes the radical notion that women of means need not shackle themselves to men at all -- unless they find a suitable, desirable mate. So lessons in the fine art of acquiring a loving and passionate husband are part of the curriculum at this highly unusual school. And as the holidays approach, Mrs. Harris sends her young ladies home with personally tailored lessons to work on. Will they return any closer to finding the perfect husband?

Join this dazzling roster of authors as they put their own spin on the School for Heiresses in four spirited tales of passion!

My dilemma about reading this anthology was one that I mentioned in this post, mainly, how do reading anthologies fitting in with reading series in order!

Four lessons on love from four extraordinary authors!

From Sabrina Jeffries...Look before you leap

When Eliza flees her evil guardian, she unwittingly steals (oops!) a horse from Colin Hunt, a newly minted earl who wants nothing more than to send her home....or to keep her forever.

This novella, Ten Reasons to Stay, fits into the School for Heiresses series after the second book. Now I haven't read the other two books, and I gather that we would learn more about Colin Hunt in particular in at least one of the other books. I didn't feel like I was missing out, although I am sure that that opinion will change once I do actually get to the other books.

I liked the fact that Colin wasn't a cookie-cutter standard romanceland Earl. He had an Indian heritage, something that I don't think I have seen previously. Eliza is caught stealing his horse when she is trying to flee from her uncle who is trying to marry her off in order to pay off a debt, which is something that I have seen before, but it was still well written and entertaining.

From Liz Carlyle...At least pretend to be innocent

After a passionate encounter between Martinique - the daughter of a French courtesan - and the notorious rake Lord St Vrain, there is talk of a proper courtship...though there's nothing proper about either of them!

This novella, called After Midnight, is the introduction for the new series by Liz Carlyle. The first full sized book comes out in July, and I for one cannot wait.

Once again we have a character that is not the norm in historical romances. Martinique is the daughter of a French courtesan. She was adopted into the Neville family when her mother married into the family, and she is now very much treated as one of the family by them, despite the fact that she doesn't always feel as though she is. She is spending the holidays with distant relatives, when she meets Lord St Vrain - a man who is the subject of many rumours!

They are caught in a compromising position when he sneaks into her room, thinking that it belongs to another woman. Martinique is determined to not marry just because of this, as is St Vrain, for reasons that become clear once we find out what it was exactly that he did to deserve his reputation!

Great story from Liz Carlyle, and I cannot wait to read more about the Neville family, in particular the seemingly grim Rothewell.

From Julia London...Don't be naive

Sent to London to attract a match among the ton, Grace finds herself drawn to rugged Barrett Adlaine - an entirely inappropriate mate who will never meet with her father's approval.

I think that this story fits within the Desperate Debutantes series. This novella is called The Merchant's Gift and features Grace Holcomb, daughter of a successful wool merchant, who has been sent to London by her father to find a match amongst the gentlemen of the ton. Unfortunately that is harder than it would seem given the ton's lack of acceptance towards people who's money comes from trade, no matter how rich they are. The other problem is that Grace is extremely attracted to Barrett Adlaine, a well off merchant from Leeds - plenty of money, but definitely not good ton.

I really, really liked Barrett - he was an ordinary man, who had worked hard to get what he had, and knew what it was that he wanted out of life, and that was Grace. Grace, on the other hand, I wasn't quite so keen on. She seemed to be very changeable in terms of what she wanted, but she did almost redeem herself with the end of the story!

Whenever I read Julia London's historicals, it always puzzles me that I don't like them more. I guess I just really prefer her voice in her contemporary novels, which I always really enjoy.

From Renee Bernard....Break free of the gods of mischief.

With her constant mishaps and chaotic ways, Alyssa is no match for Mr Leland Yates, who is ruled by logic and reason - or is she?

Renee Bernard is a new to me author, and this novella titled Mischief's Holiday features Alyssa Martin, a young lady with a penchant for getting herself into sticky situations, going home for the holidays to her family. After getting stuck in the open window of her overturned carriage, she meets her rescuer Leland Yates, a young man who is to Alyssa's great embarrassment a guest of her father for the holidays. She had hoped that she would never have to again see the man who found her with her legs sticking out of the window of the carriage. From there Alyssa struggles from one disaster to another, along the way charming the rather somber Leland.

For the most part, I liked this story, although there was too much slapstick involved for me to actually really enjoy it. Leland was another self made man, and I liked him very much.

I haven't figured out my dilemma about reading anthologies and how that impacts on reading stories in order, but I still enjoyed this. Overall, this was an entertaining anthology, with two really good stories and the other two weren't stinkers, so that has to be a pretty good return on an anthology...right?

I have used the descriptions that are given in the book itself, but I think that the descriptions found on Julia London's website are actually better!


Rating: 4/5

In the Prince's Bed by Sabrina Jeffries

From bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries comes the first dazzling novel in a sexy new series featuring three half brothers. Bound together by the royal father who denied them, they've formed a pact to help each other achieve their every desire...including the women of their dreams.

Miss Katherine Merivale is desperate to make a respectable match — if only her childhood sweetheart would propose! Until he does, she can't touch the fortune she's inherited. So the last thing she needs is notorious rogue Alec Black putting her proposed marriage at risk with his distracting, smoldering gaze and moonlit kisses.

Alec, the Earl of Iversley — and one of three bastard sons of the Prince of Wales — is secretly searching for an heiress bride to pay his debts. Fiery Katherine seems the answer to his prayers, and her passionate response to his practiced seduction soon assures him that she is his. But Alec knows Katherine is looking for a love-match, and he wonders...what will happen when she discovers his deception?

This was the first Sabrina Jeffries book that I have read, and I will be definitely going back for more! I really liked Alec, although I did wonder at times why Alec didn't just come out and tell Katherine the truth. I loved the scene at the poetry reading where he kept making smartass comments and had her laughing. I was so glad that Katherine didn't end up with the childhood sweetheart who's name I cannot remember! I have to admit that I felt almost as though Katherine was a cookie-cutter heroine - read her story in numerous books before, that is until we got to the circus act scene. That scene was so unusual and fun and I think the fact that she went ahead with it kind of bought Katherine to life for me. It is the thing that sticks in my mind clearest about this book. I was kind of surprised by the

I finished it on 30 November, so quite a few other things have become a little hazy. I do know that I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series though!


Rating 4/5