Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho lured me with its promise of an alternate London, magic and Fae. Politics, prejudice and magic are central themes in this fantasy set against an alternate Regency England. Despite some issues, Sorcerer to the Crown with its dry humor and colorful character ended up making me smile.
Death Steppe: A World War II Novel by Judy Bruce transports us to the western Soviet Union as Germany tries to invade. It follows a Russian war window and a German lieutenant whose paths will eventual cross as they deal with the challenges these times bring them. Beautiful, brutal and steeped in faith this tale exposes both the horrors of war and the beauty of love.
It is always bittersweet to say good-bye to a series/trilogy you have thoroughly enjoyed. Jenn Bennett’s Roaring Twenties trilogy is one I will miss. The final book Grave Phantoms has a friend to lovers’ romance with a forbidden twist that readers have been anxious for from the beginning. Add in the reappearance of a missing yacht and its strange inhabitants and you have the makings of a page-turner.
The Alchemist’s Daughter by Mary Lawrence is the first in her new Bianca Goddard Mysteries. The tale takes place during the reign of King Henry VIII and offers a heroine who dabbles in forensics as she tries to exonerate herself from murder charges.
It has been quite some time since I have read a medieval era romance. I was delighted for the chance to listen to The Beauty Bride by Claire Delacroix. This is the first novel in her Jewels of Kinfairlie series featuring unwed sisters and a brother who must marry them off post haste. Fairies, a stranger, danger and deceit had us racing across the countryside and falling for Rhys FitzHenry.
Amanda Quick is one of my favorite authors, and I was excited to slip into one of her historical romance. Otherwise Engaged is a romantic suspense that delivered quite the mystery, with spies for the crown, and murder. It also offered a delicious romance with a feisty, travel-wise heroine and a geeky hero who made me swoon.
I have been thoroughly enjoying the Duke’s Men series by Sabrina Jeffries with its regency romances and suspenseful mysteries. How the Scoundrel Seduces shares investigator Tristan Bonnaud’s story and that of a young woman we met in the last pages of When the Rogue Returns. Tristan is swoon-worthy and I adored seeing him fall. How the Scoundrel Seduces brings us laughter, romance and suspense while tying up some threads from previous books. I consumed this in a single evening and was left pining for the next book.
I love Michelle Diener’s historical suspense mysteries. They are all based around actual events, with delightful characters and a side dish of romance. A Dangerous Madness is connected to her previous novels; The Emperor’s Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies since we see characters from those novels but all are standalone and can be read in any order.
