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.

A Perfect Ten by Linda Kage (Tour Review, Giveaway, & Playlist)

A Perfect Ten by Linda Kage
Release Date: March 30, 2015
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 426
Series: Forbidden Men #5
Review Source: eARC from Tasty Book Tours

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Let your hair down, Caroline, they said. It'll be fun, they said.

I know I've closed myself off in a major way in the past year, ever since “the incident” where I messed up my life completely. It's past time I try to live again or just give up completely. But this is quite possibly the craziest thing I've ever done. In a last ditch effort to invigorate myself, I'm standing outside Oren Tenning's bedroom, I just peeled off the sexiest pair of underwear I own, and my hand is already raised to knock. My brother would disown me for doing anything with his best friend, and he'd probably kill Oren. But if I play my cards right, no one will ever know about this. Not even Ten.

Maybe after tonight, I’ll finally get over this stupid, irrational crush I hate having on the biggest jerk I’ve ever met. Or maybe I’ll just end up falling for him even harder. Maybe I’ll discover there’s so much more to my crude, carefree hunk than meets the eye.

My Thoughts:
I definitely enjoyed this book, but I have to admit that my first thought upon finishing it was that the book is a little bit long for the story that it tells. It definitely could have been condensed a bit. That being said, there are tons of great scenes and great characters, and if you’ve been following the series you’ve probably been waiting and waiting for a Ten/Caroline book, and A Perfect Ten was a lot of fun in that regard.

I liked that we get to see behind Ten's mask here. He’s still the Ten you know from previous books (more than a bit crude, tons of swearing, etc), but he’s also a sweet guy, a very loyal guy. We’ve seen glimpses of this before, but it really comes out when he’s around Caroline. You can tell how much he cares about her. Caroline is a character we’ve seen around the periphery of the series, her being Noel Gamble’s little sister. Caroline is super outgoing and a bit crazy, which makes her the perfect match for Ten (or Oren as only she can call him).

I liked this book a lot, but it wasn’t without its issues. There’s the length issue that I mentioned above (okay I really feel like Ten would interrupt here and say “that’s what she said”), but I also felt like the reason for Ten and Caroline staying a secret was a bit overdone (or maybe it just went on for too long?). I think this is because I also found it hard to identify with Noel's reaction to them as a couple, as if Ten wasn't a totally loyal friend to him. It felt a bit out of character for Noel to be such an asshat. On the other hand, I liked seeing a different side to a hero from a previous book.

While I didn’t like this book as much as some of the others in the Forbidden Men series, I still loved the dynamics of it enough to rate it 4 stars. Linda does such an amazing job of writing group scenes and adding in mentions of previous couples. I especially loved following up on Quinn and Zoey (or Zwinn as they become to be known) from With Every Heartbeat. While this wasn't a perfect read, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a very decent New Adult book. I highly recommend the series in general, and I know if you start reading these books you’ll be dying to read this addition to the series.

The Cover:
Like. :)

Rating:
[4/5]

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

About Linda:
Linda grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now she lives in Kansas with her husband, daughter, and nine cuckoo clocks. Her life's been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing's always been a major part of her world, and she is so happy to finally share some of her stories with other romance lovers.

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

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linda Kage's Soundtrack for A Perfect Ten:

It would have to have:

--"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond - because that's the song Asher sings for the group when Ten demands a song out of him at the end.

--"We Want Some P---y" by 2 Live Crew - because that's Ten's ringtone on his cell phone at the beginning of the story.

It might also have:

--"GDFR" by Flo Rida - Perfect for the scene where Caroline becomes Midnight Visitor because that's when it "goes down for real!"

--"Honey, I'm Good" by Andy Grammer - This would work for the scene where Ten turns down the girl who comes onto him after he hooks up with Caroline.

--"Fireball" by Pitbull - I always imagined a drunk Ten and Caroline dancing to this song on the beach the night they're in Lake Tahoe.

--"Catching Stars" by One Republic - I imagine this song happening during one of Ten's introspective scenes where he's missing Caroline and wishing he could be with her openly.

--"Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls - This just feels like it would fit perfectly in the scene where Ten and Caroline seriously claim their love for one another in her bedroom, right after her younger brothers beat the crap out of him!

--"Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran - Would be a good closer for their epilogue!

And that's the playlist I came up for A Perfect Ten!

Thanks, Linda!! Everyone, be sure to follow along with the rest of the tour on Tasty Book Tours.

Cover Reveal: The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen

I absolutely adore Sarina Bowen and her books, so I am very happy to take part in the cover reveal for The Shameless Hour. Here's a bit about the book, and you can scroll down to view the cover and read an excerpt.

Announcing: Ivy Years #4

The Shameless Hour

by Sarina Bowen

Coming on or before May 1st

The girl who’s had everyone meets the boy who has no one.

For Bella, the sweet-talking, free-loving, hip-checking student manager of the Harkness men’s hockey team, sex is a second language. She’s used to being fluent where others stutter, and the things people say behind her back don’t (often) bother her. So she can’t understand why her smoking hot downstairs neighbor has so much trouble staying friends after their spontaneous night together. She knows better than to worry about it, but there’s something in those espresso eyes that makes her second-guess herself.

Rafe is appalled with himself for losing his virginity in a drunken hookup. His strict Catholic upbringing always emphasized loving thy neighbor—but not with a bottle of wine and a box of condoms. The result is an Ivy League bout of awkwardness. But when Bella is leveled by a little bad luck and a downright nasty fraternity stunt, it’s Rafe who is there to pick up the pieces.

Bella doesn’t want Rafe's help, and she’s through with men. Too bad the undeniable spark that crackles between the two of them just can’t be extinguished.

Pre-order The Shameless Hour at iBooks | Follow Sarina Bowen on Amazon.com |
Sign up for Sarina’s Mailing List

Now, how about the cover?!

So pretty! Bella is sweet, sexy, and vulnerable -- such a perfect image to match the book's synopsis!! And now...

An Excerpt from The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen:

I heard the band start to play the classic one-two Merengue rhythm that I’d heard my whole life. On the dance floor, the energy picked up as the geezers began to move to the faster beat.

“Let’s go,” I said, standing up. I offered Bella my hand.

But Bella shook her head. Even worse, she scooted her chair toward the wall.

“Don’t leave me hanging,” I said, my hand still waiting in the air. “Come on now. Nobody puts Bella in a corner.”

On the other side of the table, Bella’s sister snorted into her white wine.

Bella rolled her eyes. Hard. “You did not just quote Dirty Dancing.”

I leaned down near Bella’s ear. “I did. Now get your ass out of that chair, like the girl in the movie, or I’ll have to put you in a fireman’s hold.”

Her mouth tight, Bella stood up. Not one to waste an opportunity, I clasped her hand, tugging her onto the dance floor. When we were right in the center, I put one hand onto Bella’s waist and took her opposite hand in mine. She was as stiff as a piece of wood. “Shake it off, chica. This is supposed to be fun.”

“Your job tonight was to make my life less embarrassing. Not more.”

“I am doing that. We’re going to be the best looking dancers on this floor, and everyone in this mausoleum is going to wonder how I got so lucky as to be here with you. Now listen to this rhythm, okay? Just step to the beat. And let your hips absorb the motion.” I began to move to the music. The merengue is a Dominican dance, and every kid in my neighborhood can merengue before his fifth birthday. It’s just not that complicated.

With nervous eyes, Bella began to move.

“Use these hips,” I prompted, touching the silky fabric of her dress. As I watched, she loosened up a tiny fraction. “Yes! But even more. You look great. I wouldn’t steer you wrong. And think of pressing the balls of your feet into the floor.”

Biting her lip, Bella moved with me.

“That’s it! See? Nothing to it.” Just like that, we had a proper merengue going on.

“Can I sit down yet?” Bella asked.

“Not even close,” I laughed. “See, I knew you could move.”

Bella pouted. “We’ve seen each other’s moves, Rafe.”

She lifted her eyes, and the heat in them went straight to my dick.

Jesucristo. That was the trouble with getting so close to Bella. I was always going to be susceptible to her. Anything she did to remind me of that night was always going to knock me right over.

“Ha.” She said. “I finally found a way to shut you up.” Bella put a little more effort into her merengue then, looking smug.

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK!!!! I love characters that break down stereotypes and go beyond what people initially think of them. We already saw Bella do that in The Understatement of the Year, so I'm thrilled she's getting her own book.

If you haven't read Sarina before, start with the first Ivy Years book, The Year We Fell Down, or the first book in her adult romance Gravity series, Coming in from the Cold. You could also jump in at any book, but I think both series are worth reading in order, from the beginning.