Winter is here downunder, readers! My absolute favourite time of the year! Time to snuggle by the fire with a hot drink and read. (To our northern hemisphere friends, translate that to a cool drink by the pool...) Naturellement this leads to Our Absolute Winter/(Summer)Essentials: books! Last month I promised you some Historicals, so I am delivering.
What did I love to love this month?
Debut books! Lovely debuts! Two beautiful authors I simply adore. Besides being the nicest people ever, these lovely ladies are all talent, talent, talent.
First is the absolutely fabulous Cassandra Samuels, already known to you marvellous blog devotees. How inspirational are her posts here? Have you read her book A Scandalous Wager? Move over heroes, there's a new boy in town, Oliver - and oh my, just look at those dark eyes. He's returned from war to take up the impoverished earldom, and gains access to the widowed (possibly murderous) Black Raven's house on a wager. Their first meeting is surprisingly comic. Oliver's totally foxed, but conscious enough to be endearing and witty. And he continues so right through the book, while The Black Raven, Lisbeth, is very guarded. Every reader's heart will go out to her. I know mine did. Love, love, love this unexpected couple. And Oliver is... just... yes please thankyouverymuch...
The second debut is the delicious Elyse Huntington. Pssst! I can let the cat out of the bag and let you know Elyse will be doing a guest blog here later this year, so you've got plenty of time between now and then to read her lovely new sparkling My Dark Duke. I love a good duke story. James, said dark Duke, has been in retreat for years, ever since his first wife died in mysterious circumstances. (Another did-he-or-didn't-he? Delicious.) Then he meets Lady Alethea Sinclair, someone who's very determined not to marry, unless it's for love. Two strong but vulnerable people...it makes your romantic heart go ahhh. After you finish reading, pop over to the tender epilogue on Elyse's website - it brought tears to my eyes: More Good Bits.What did I love to laugh at this month?
My TBR, which could possibly reach the moon... Happy dilemma! Here's a brilliant book I plucked off the pile and fell in love with: The Game and the Governess by Kate Noble. Lord Edward Granville (another earl!), swaps places with his old military friend and secretary John Turner for a ridiculous wager (another wager!): that he can 'have' any woman he wants without using his title. Snort. We all know how that's going to turn out. His unlikely quarry is governess Phoebe Baker. Lots of catnip here for any romance reader, miaow. Historicals are simply So! Much! Fun! To! Read!
What did I love to learn this month?
That I adore - and will probably always adore - short category romances. Here's two I loved:
Lily Rose is an idealistic archaeologist in Playing by the Greek's Rules by Sarah Morgan. She's a Pollyanna, sunshine and kittens kind of gal. But definitely not saccharine or overdone, she's really one of the most endearing heroines I've ever read (perhaps alongside Molly, in Molly Cooper's Dream Date by Barbara Hannay). On the rebound, Lily decides to have a relationship with her playboy billionaire boss Nik Zervakis, while developing a 'Kevlar' non-caring shell so people can't hurt her anymore. Yes, well, the Kevlar approach doesn't work, and in the end we all care. Blissful.
