Four Nights With the Duke by Eloisa James (Review + Giveaway)

Four Nights With the Duke by Eloisa James
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 384
Series: Desperate Duchesses #8 (#2 By the Numbers)
Review Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

As a young girl, Emilia Gwendolyn Carrington told the annoying future Duke of Pindar that she would marry any man in the world before him—so years later she is horrified to realize that she has nowhere else to turn.

Evander Septimus Brody has his own reasons for agreeing to Mia's audacious proposal, but there's one thing he won't give his inconvenient wife: himself.

Instead, he offers Mia a devil's bargain...he will spend four nights a year with her. Four nights, and nothing more. And those only when she begs for them.

Which Mia will never do.

Now Vander faces the most crucial challenge of his life: he must seduce his own wife in order to win her heart—and no matter what it takes, this is the one battle he can't afford to lose.

My Thoughts:
Four Nights With the Duke is Vander’s story, who you got to know fairly well if you read Thorn and India’s story, Three Weeks With Lady X. Vander is the Duke, and we know he has a bit of scandal in his family -- from the prologue we know very well what it is, and we meet his heroine, Mia. This book contains a couple of tropes, first with the marriage of convenience, but also with blackmail. It makes for an interesting coupling, and the situation makes it so I didn’t blame Vander at all for his attitude at first.

From Mia’s POV we see someone who has been left alone, who’s been jilted, who needs a husband in order to take care of her nephew. It makes her a sympathetic character, but it doesn't fully excuse her actions. I liked when her plans backfired on her to an extent. I liked her, but considering she blackmailed a guy into marrying her, she deserved to get a little back at her.

Mia is also an interesting character because she’s a writer. We see Mia plotting her book and having issues with it, which is very relatable. It was like seeing into a writer’s brain when Mia wanted her publisher to send her other books to read so she could avoid her own work. The thinly veiled references to Julia Quinn's and Lisa Kleypas’ books were so fun to pick out.

In a romance you always want to root for the hero, but it’s also great when the hero isn’t perfect: when he’s making mistakes and doing dumb things. Romance may not always lend itself to total realism, but I always enjoy when the hero seems like he could be a regular person instead of the Best Man Ever. Well, Vander definitely fits into the imperfect hero role. The arrogant assumptions he had at first about how Mia felt made me literally LOL.

Despite how he acts at first, Vander is a very understanding character who quickly gets why Mia did what she did. I loved how he supported Mia’s nephew, Charlie, so well and showed him love right away in a different way than he was used to. Charlie was a great character, which is no surprise, because one thing Eloisa James always does well is secondary characters. I loved Vander’s uncle and how he was a total fanboy over Mia’s books. I also liked what we saw of Thorn and India, and how they were so loyal to Vander.

While I did like Three Weeks With Lady X better, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. There’s always something so epic and compulsively readable about Eloisa’s books. If you’re just getting into historical romance and haven’t yet read her backlist I highly recommend you do so.

The Cover:
Kind of typical, but I like it.

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

About Eloisa:
A New York Times bestselling author, Eloisa James is a professor of English literature who lives with her family in New York, but who can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. (Her husband is an honest to goodness Italian knight!) Eloisa’s website offers short stories, extra chapters, and even a guide to shopping in Florence.

Where to find Eloisa:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to follow along with the rest of the tour on Tasty Book Tours.

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn
Release Date: January 27, 2015
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 384
Series: Smythe-Smith Quartet #4
Review Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Sir Richard Kenworthy has less than a month to find a bride. He knows he can't be too picky, but when he sees Iris Smythe-Smith hiding behind her cello at her family's infamous musicale, he thinks he might have struck gold. She's the type of girl you don't notice until the second—or third—look, but there's something about her, something simmering under the surface, and he knows she's the one.

Iris Smythe–Smith is used to being underestimated. With her pale hair and quiet, sly wit she tends to blend into the background, and she likes it that way. So when Richard Kenworthy demands an introduction, she is suspicious. He flirts, he charms, he gives every impression of a man falling in love, but she can't quite believe it's all true. When his proposal of marriage turns into a compromising position that forces the issue, she can't help thinking that he's hiding something . . . even as her heart tells her to say yes.

My Thoughts:
It’s not surprising, considering this is a Julia Quinn novel, but The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy was absolutely enchanting from the very first page. It was a true delight to pick up a book and right from the beginning want to dive in and get to know the characters and their situations. The Smythe-Smith Quartet has been a very fun series overall, so I suggest reading all of them, but this can easily be read as a standalone as well -- you would just miss out on the fun references to previous main characters.

There’s huge chemistry between Richard and Iris, which makes it difficult for Sir Richard to go through with his original plan. It’s semi-obvious to the reader what's going on behind the scenes in Richard's life, even before we’re completely looped in, but it's very difficult for Iris. She's completely in the dark and feeling like her husband doesn't like or want her. It was interesting to see their relationship progress, because Richard has done a fairly unforgivable thing, and Iris is so confused about what’s going on. It all leads up to a satisfying conclusion, of course, but it's the journey there that's the most interesting.

No matter what, you can expect epic swoons from a Julia Quinn book, and this one is no exception. The author is great at creating dynamic characters with massive chemistry, and secondary characters who leap off the page. While this isn’t my very favourite of hers, I still found it to be a massively entertaining read that any historical romance fan will enjoy.


The Cover:
It's cute, but it looks more like it belongs with the Bevelstoke books, which is confusing.

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

About Julia:
JULIA QUINN started writing her first book one month after finishing college and has been tapping away at her keyboard ever since. The New York Times bestselling author of twenty-four novels for Avon Books, she is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and is one of only fifteen authors ever to be inducted in the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.

Where to find Julia:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the rest of the tour HERE.

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 288
Series: n/a
Review Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Downton Abbey meets Cassandra Clare in this lush, romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.

My Thoughts:
By now it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll enjoy a Kiersten White book, so I was looking forward to this one, especially when it seemed so lush and romantic. It definitely had that feel to it, and I loved the historical aspect of it too, with all the dresses and formal balls, etc. This book has such a depth to it, with a big theme being colonialism. I had no idea this would be a part of the book, and so pervasive, too. I love reading about these types of dialogues, not that I like the situation, but they’re so interesting with the dynamic of the oppressor and the oppressed. I really appreciated what Kiersten included about the oppressed people trying to hang on to their culture, and what happens with that generation of people who were born under a colonial type of rule. What is their identity when they have a cultural background but are raised under another society’s customs?

With all of this going on in the background you might expect a dark book, but it really isn’t. Despite everything bad going on there’s still a light cheerfulness that Kiersten manages to insert into all of her books. One of the bigger aspects of the book is MAGIC, which is a lot of fun. This is centred around Finn, a mysterious figure who turns out to be a handsome lord torn between two cultures himself. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that Finn and Jessamin have a sweet romance with an instant kind of connection between them. Considering their relationship is based on a certain kind of fate, it could easily have become a “you’re made for me, it’s fated” type of thing, which I generally dislike, because it means the characters have no agency. I was incredibly pleased when this wasn’t the case. There was a truly sweet courtship and slow connection between Finn and Jessamin, despite the crazy circumstances.

Illusions of Fate is a great book full of magic, friendship, romance, cultural differences, action, and so many other awesome things. I definitely recommend it, and I’m excited to see what comes next from Kiersten White.

The Cover:
I adore it!! So completely gorgeous.

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Outlander TV Review

I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon in August 2013, a couple of months after it was announced the show had been picked up and around the time the actors were being cast. It was the talk on Twitter and on book blogs that got me interested in this book, and in watching the TV show, which is why I think it's pretty cool that Shaw Media reached out to me and other book bloggers to review the TV show.

If you haven't heard of the show or don't know the specifics, here's a little about it:

Outlander follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743 Scotland, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world and her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate relationship is ignited that tears Claire’s heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

By now I've watched all the episodes that have aired in Canada, but to give you a taste of the show here are my thoughts on the first two episodes.

Episode 1: Sassenach

I thought this was a good introduction episode. It might be a bit slow at first if you haven't read the book and don't know what's coming, but it's hard to say. It needed those set up moments, and there's definitely a sense of "something's going to happen". I thought they did a good job of showing Frank and Claire, how there's true affection and desire between them, but also some distance in their marriage.

There were definitely a few parts of the episode that were very convenient and foreshadow-y, like of course she knows all about botany and the medicinal application of plants and of course she's an ultra-special "not your typical 1940s female", growing up with her archaeologist uncle, etc. These aren't the fault of the show, as I felt the same way while reading the book, I think they just jumped out a bit more when they were presented as voice over and asides within the limited show time.

Overall my impression was quite a positive one. The scenery is just GORGEOUS and they did a great job of showing it off. The casting seems spot-on: I liked what we've seen of the actors so far. Caitriona Balfe has the perfect spunk for Claire, and Sam Heughan is -- let's face it -- gorgeous, but more importantly, he seems just right for Jamie.

Sassenach is definitely an intro episode, giving us just a hint of what's to come, but that was exactly its job. Most importantly, the glimpse it provided was one I really liked. It's always interesting to see a book come to life, to see the vision of the producers and the director, and I enjoyed watching this first episode.

Episode 2: Castle Leoch

This second episode is a good continuation of the story. We see a bit of what Claire has to deal with and how she deals with it. This episode seemed to have a bit of a slower pace to it, which had me checking my watch a few times, but it never truly lost my interest. There were a couple stand out scenes for me, one being when Claire is at dinner weaving a fake story about her life, and another being when she takes dinner to Jamie at the stables. There's definitely huge chemistry between Claire and Jamie. I love that it's there in the background already; it shows me they're doing a great job at weaving things in to the show for the future.

I didn't count them, but it felt like there were a lot of flashbacks to things that happened in the first episode. I understand that Claire is having déjà vu to things that were only a few days ago for her and that actually happen hundreds of years in the future, but sometimes it felt like too much. Maybe it was because I watched Episodes 1 and 2 at the same time, but it was like "Yes, we know she went in that particular room. Get on with it already!".

What I thought this episode did well was showing the balance Claire has to maintain. On the one hand she has to try to deal with her surroundings and survive (i.e. don't give people any more reason to think she's a spy), but on the other hand she's very determined to return to Inverness and find a way back home to Frank.

This was a smaller scale episode, taking place at the castle, rather than the journey of the first episode, but I enjoyed seeing how the castle ran, who was in charge of what, etc.

Overall impressions:
The show has a quiet pace to it in some parts, but there are also great action scenes, so I think they balance each other out nicely. While the voiceover was a bit much in some parts it also provided key information that I really don't think could have been presented in any other way, and I liked hearing Claire's thoughts. The scenery is gorgeous, the costuming is amazing, and the actors are perfect for their roles. It felt like something true. What I mean is (and not that I'm an expert on the period or anything), it felt like it was accurate and you were really watching a scene from the past come alive. I truly enjoyed these first two episodes of Outlander, and I'm interested to see where they go with things from here.

Outlander airs at 10 pm Sunday on Showcase in Canada.

Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat (Guest Post)

Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Razorbill Canada
Pages: 288
Series: n/a

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

On her first voyage as a stewardess aboard the Empress of Ireland, Ellie is drawn to the solitary fire stoker who stands by the ship’s rail late at night, often writing in a journal.

Jim. Ellie finds it hard to think of his name now. After their wonderful time in Quebec City, that awful night happened. The screams, the bodies, the frigid waters … she tries hard to tell herself that he survived, but it’s hard to believe when so many didn’t. So when Wyatt Steele, journalist at The New York Times asks her for her story, Ellie refuses. But when he shows her Jim’s journal, she jumps at the chance to be able to read it herself, to find some trace of the man she had fallen in love with, or perhaps a clue to what happened to him. There’s only one catch: she will have to tell her story to Steele and he’ll “pay” her by giving her the journal, one page at a time.

Buy the book:

Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Kobo

I'll have a review of Unspeakable coming up on the blog, but for today I'm thrilled to present a guest post from Caroline. I asked Caroline about her historical research, and here's what she had to say...

Question:
What are some of the challenges and rewards of writing historical fiction? Do you have a preferred research strategy?

Caroline's answer:
The reward of writing historical is the sense of digging up a time long forgotten and polishing it so others can enjoy it, too. It’s kind of like archaeology and a bit like detective work. I find it so fascinating and exciting. Sometimes the facts are hard to unearth and I have to keep at it until I feel I know enough to infer or imagine the rest. The challenge for me is knowing when enough is enough. I can get a bit obsessed with the details. :)

I usually start with kids’ non-fiction books, actually. They give me a quick overview of the subject area before I start really getting in it. I review as many novels/movies as I can that are also set in the period to help me get a feel for the time. Then the real work begins. I usually spend about six months to a year researching before I feel confident enough to create that time and place in my story. I keep LOTS of notes because I can’t remember things. Every novel I’ve done has a huge binder of research and sometimes, like with UNSPEAKABLE, I make a visual board: http://www.carolinepignat.com/unspeakable-research.html

Thanks so much for stopping by, Caroline! I totally love that you use kids books. It's so true how they can give you a great overview of the facts.

Everyone, be sure to check out these tour stops which have already been posted:

• Lost at Midnight
• Book Nerd Canada
• Me on Books
• A Glass of Wine
• Emilie’s Book World

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller (Tour Review)

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller
Release Date: January 23, 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 448
Series: n/a
Review Source: ARC from Razorbill Canada

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.

After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

My Thoughts:
Despite the fact that I was a history major in university, I don't read a lot of pure historical fiction. The historical novels I do read tend to have some paranormal element to them. Despite these facts, I absolutely loved A Mad, Wicked Folly. The book features a smart and tenacious heroine whose story is period appropriate, but whose sensibilities will appeal to modern readers.

Vicky is such a lovely character. I enjoyed reading from her perspective so much. You would think that the life of a pretty, rich girl wouldn't be too hard, but when your station in society means ignoring the most important parts of you, it's quite a horrifying existence. Even though it made sense for the time period (I mean, heck, some people still feel this way), it was so sad and disheartening to see the attitude of Vicky's father. He feels that a woman is meant to be seen and not heard, and that a woman’s only role in life is to be an obedient wife and mother.

The attitude of Vicky’s father is juxtaposed with the appearance of the suffragettes. The book does a great job of portraying what they were doing to try and win the vote, and it shows how negatively they were viewed by most of the public. I liked their role in Vicky’s story, and how she is both inspired by and a little scared of them. While suffrage is something Vicky finds important, her real passion is for art. The main focus of the book is really about the lengths to which Vicky will go to have art as a part of her life. I actually found this aspect to be quite inspiring.

While the book doesn’t feature what I would consider a love triangle, there are two male characters vying for Vicky’s attention in very different ways. I completely loved Vicky's interactions with Will. He’s such a fabulous character, and those two together are fabulous. I have to say, though, that I kind of loved-hated Edmund too. While we know how women in history were controlled by their fathers and husbands, it was interesting to see how men could be stymied by their families too. While Edmund and Vicky are so different from one another, I liked seeing the similarities between them as well, and how they chose to deal with their situations. Both characters have big choices to make about what type of control they'll allow their families to have and what they're willing to give up.

A Mad, Wicked Folly is such a delightful read. The characters are lovely and the plot kept me enthralled. I enjoyed the reading experience very much and I highly recommend it to all YA fans.

The Cover:
Just gorgeous!

Rating:
[5/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson
Release Date: September 9, 2013
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Pages: 320
Series: n/a
Review Source: Netgalley

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.

Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist.

My Thoughts:
I absolutely adored Julianne Donaldson's first novel, ‘Edenbrooke’, so I was very excited to delve into ‘Blackmoore’, another historical romance. Both of Julianne’s books straddle the line between Young Adult and Adult. YA isn’t as clear of a category in historical novels, but I definitely feel this would work for both audiences, since it is a clean romance.

Julianne Donaldson definitely knows how to bring on the swoon while keeping things PG. There’s such a yearning to this novel, with Kate pining after her best friend, who is meant to marry someone else. She hides her feelings by talk of adventure, and has made it very clear to everyone that she never wants to marry. Of course, as the reader we get a definite sense that Henry loves Kate as well, but he simply can’t admit it because of his position, or he doesn’t want to because of how clear Kate is on never marrying.

What this author does so well is bringing out such emotion in her characters, and therefore in her readers. You can just feel the chemistry between Kate and Henry, both in the present and in flashbacks from their friendship. You can also feel the pain in Kate having to deal with her flirty, busybody mother and Henry’s snobby, plotting mother. Then there’s Henry’s intended, the insufferable Juliet, and Sylvia, Henry’s sister, who used to be friends with Kate, but is now a stranger.

I flew through this book, because it was just so easy to feel a kinship with Kate and to fall in love with Henry alongside her. I love when you want to reach right in and shake the characters, to force them to work things out, and that definitely happened here. I was so invested in the characters and their happiness. ‘Blackmoore’ is a clean romance that manages to be superbly swoony, and it’s a great introduction to historical romance.

The Cover:
Pretty!

Rating:
[5/5]

Find Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson on Goodreads, Book Depository, & Amazon.

You can find many more reviews for 'Blackmoore' (as well as a few giveaways and guest posts) by visiting Shadow Mountain's blog tour page.