The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory

Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria of Drieden of the Royal House of Laurent is so over this princess thing. After her fiance jilted her on their wedding day, she's back home, having spent four months in exile. Aka it's back to putting on a show for the Driedish nation as the perfect princess they expect her to be. But Thea's sick of duty, so when she sneaks out of the palace and meets a sexy Scot named Nick in a local bar, she relishes the chance to be a normal woman for a change.

But just as she thinks she's found her Prince Charming, he reveals his intentions are less than honourable: he's a spy and he's not above blackmail. As they join forces to find out what happened the day her fiance disappeared, together they discover a secret that could change life as they know it.

I've never tried anything by Ms. Emory, but was hooked in with the blurb, and, this was one of the first present day romance novels that I thoroughly enjoyed. While I love romance novels, there has to be something outside of the romance to keep me intrigued, and this had all the factors - comedy, drama, politics, and mystery. 

While most romance novels are forefront a romance and the plot is secondary, I felt that this novel pushed the plot first, with romance as a secondary feature and it works perfectly. The characters are greatly relatable and you are cheering for them to not only succeed in their mystery, but also fall in love. I was more of a fan of Theodora than Nick, but both still had good qualities.

Overall, a fantastic novel and I can't wait to see more from this author.

Rating: 4/5

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The Bride & The Beast - Teresa Medeiros

Dear Reader,

I'd been prowling the crumbling ruins of Castle Weyrcraig for so long that I could no longer remember if I was man or beast. Then one stormy night the superstitious Highlanders of Ballybliss decided to leave a helpless virgin bound to a stake in the castle courtyard to satisfy my insatiable appetites.

My demands might strike terror in the hearts of men, but this bold beauty dared to defy me. After she informed me that she didn't believe in dragons, I had no choice but to make her my prisoner--or risk being exposed to those I had sought to deceive with my dangerous masquerade.

Soon I found myself stealing into the moonlit tower just to watch her sleep. Little does she know that beneath this beast's gruff exterior beats the passionate heart of a man. Gwendolyn Wilder may not believe in dragons, but I intend to use all my sensual wiles to teach her to believe in something even more magical--true love.

Eternally yours,

The Dragon of Weyrcraig

I will start by saying that I fell in love with Teresa Medeiros when I was a teenager and that her books are something to be treasured and re-read over and over. This book is no exception.

Set in Scotland in the 1700s, the reader is instantly drawn into the beauty and romance of the highlands, and the romance writing of time gone by, where the reader is sucked into the story and it's one remembered for years to come. I can't count how many times I've re-read this novel, but it stands out as a truly memorable novel - something rare in this day. All characters, minor and major, make you cheer for them and sigh with them.

One thing that I love about Ms. Medeiros' writing is how easy it is to become completely absorbed. Her writing keeps you itching for more (generally resulting in completing each novel in one sitting), along with being beautifully paced. We aren't instantly thrown into a romance between our characters (combined with an excellent plot), and the slow-build is perfectly paced. Not only does she focus on the romance between our characters, but also adds an intriguing plot that combined with the romance, result in the perfect novel.

There aren't enough good things I can say about this novel, but one that I strongly encourage anyone that is a fan of romance to read.

Rating: 5/5

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Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered 1) by Tessa Bailey

Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World... whatever that means.

Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite?

Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there's Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm? It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her...

The first novel in the Hot & Hammered series, and my first novel from this author, I can't wait to read the next instalment. As a quick short summary - a great, slow build, hot and heavy romance.

The novel starts somewhat slowly, but throws you right into the situation and our leads. It seems more and more that the characters we read are getting younger in age - or, is that just as I'm growing older? - but unlike many contemporary romances, this novel is in the third person, which is a definite bonus for this reader.

I was a little skeptical of our heroine, I'll admit it's the first time I've ever read about a main character being in the clown profession, but still I pressed on, and I'm glad I did. Our spunky heroine continues to grow during the novel, and while this book at it's core is a romance novel, it also has messages about empowerment and that romance isn't the be all and end all of life. I was cheering for our hero, although I will note that there I were a few comments from him that I viewed as problematic, regarding some aspects of sleeping with our female lead.

The supporting cast were also fully formed characters and had interesting storylines, not just there to progress our two leads. The romance itself was formed well, and while a light and fluffy romance, also had down and dirty romantic scenes.

Overall, a great read, and a great first instalment of the new series.

Click here to purchase from Amazon.

Rating: 3.5/5

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(ARC) Crazy About Her Impossible Boss by Ally Blake

A man in a million…There’s only one problem: he’s her boss!

Single mom Lucinda Starling has lost faith in love or happy-ever-afters. She must protect the important things: her young son and her job working for entrepreneur Angus Wolfe! Her commitment phobe boss must never know she’s crazy about him! Until one evening at a conference he looks at her like she’s the only woman in the world… Dare she risk all and be tempted by Angus?

When reading Harlequin romance novels, I find that I either read 20 back to back, or leave them for a few months without reading one, there's little in between.

I picked up Ms. Blake's book, tempted by the cover (as always, despite the old adage), and by an intriguing description. As this was given to me as advanced reading copy, I was prepared for some formatting and grammatical issues, as this is not the final copy. While this is an advanced copy, I was perturbed by the formatting, leaving many words hyphenated at the end of the line, pulling the reader out of the story with the interrupted flow. Some mistakes were also present with spelling and flow again, leaving some awkward phrasing. Hopefully both of these issues will be corrected in the final proof.

To the story itself, Ms. Blake has an interesting premise and one that is typically enjoyable to this reader, but this time it did fall slightly flat. While description is always appreciated and necessary to the reader, at times there was just too much description that did not add to the story, and detracted the reader's attention from the plot point to describe something less important. Some descriptions were also slightly off in their tone, leading the reader to lose the thread of the story and focus on lengthy description. Sometimes there was also simply too much description and not enough action to move the story along.

The characters themselves kept my attention and the heroine was likeable, along with the supporting cast, but I found myself slightly annoyed with the hero and some of his actions, and would think some of his actions may not come off as well off the novel pages.

Overall, an interesting, quick read, with some edges to smooth and soften from the author, and some issues to address with the formatting of the file.

Rating: 3.5/5

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