Review: The Request

I've since learned my lesson, but there was a stretch around 2020 where I got sucked in by Netgalley promo emails and as I've been slowly working through that backlog I have been nothing if not burned by my impulse. The latest in the slog parade is The Request by David Bell, a domestic suspense novel where the theme is "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Ryan Francis has the perfect life. A wife and young son at home. A thriving career in marketing, and he's part owner of a local bar / pub. Then one night, leaving the pub after checking on operations, out from the darkness steps his old college friend, Blake. There was a falling out several months back, when Blake demanded to hold the baby and bonked the child's head against a lamp - at which point Ryan's wife, Amanda, put her foot down. It was the last straw - given Blake's general rich boy attitude and his propensity to drink entirely too much.  But Blake is now sober and he's finally, after a long stretch of on-again-off-again, is getting married to his long-suffering lady love, Sam. He just needs to ask Ryan one small favor...

During one of his "off" periods with Sam, Blake was seeing a woman named Jennifer, who he met through happenstance because she was an almost-client of Ryan's marketing firm. In fact, Jennifer tried to start a flirtation with Ryan through Facebook Messenger, which he nipped in the bud. Blake was so comfortable around Jennifer, and deep in his cups, wrote letters to her unburdening his soul and spilling secrets. Now that he's set to marry Sam, he wants those letters back - and Jennifer is refusing to cough them up.  He asks Ryan to break into her house (he has the alarm code) to get them back. Ryan, naturally, balks at the idea, but Blake twists his arm using the time honored tradition of blackmail.

What is Blake blackmailing Ryan with? When they were in college they were members of a "social club" (a fraternity, it's a fraternity) and in a night of drunken hazing they, and a pledge, get in a car accident that kills a girl and seriously disables another. Ryan was driving and basically black-out drunk - so Blake took Ryan out of the driver's seat and put the pledge, Aaron, behind the wheel. Aaron goes to jail and eaten up by the guilt, Ryan starts leaving anonymous donations in the mailbox of the family with a now disabled daughter. Blake tells Jennifer the truth about that accident in those letters and if the truth comes out? Ryan's perfect life will go up in flames.

So, Ryan goes to Jennifer's house - and what do you think he finds?  Not the letters, but Jennifer, dead on her bedroom floor. And then, while standing over Jennifer's body, his phone pings. It's a Facebook friend request...from Jennifer.

What we have here is a story where you can't root for anybody. Ryan who wants everybody to think he's "a good person" but isn't and Blake who is your prototypical silver spoon frat boy whose fortunes have now changed so he's going to use whomever he can (Ryan, his fiancée) to claw his way into the life he thinks he deserves. The villain in this story is actually the "hero" and our villains are those wronged by these two assholes. 

Compounding all this is that the writing is cliched and lumpy (a house being locked up "like Fort Knox" and don't get me started on the final line in the book that mentions opposable thumbs being good for many things, like deleting social media apps) and one of the "villains" who monologues for chapters (they're short chapters, but still). We also get some ham-fisted commentary on social media being bad. I should have DNF'ed this fairly early but, of course, I didn't. Why? Because I wanted to find out who killed Jennifer and of course once I found that out I just got more annoyed.  

It's a story about man babies who won't take responsibility for their actions and the wreckage they leave in their wake. Seriously boys, man up.

Final Grade = D-

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is May 21!

If you're wondering why this blog has been a dead zone lately, well it's a combination of work being an absolute goat rodeo and me being mired in a terrible reading slump. But like the sun rising in the east, the TBR Challenge waits for no hostess to get her act together. Our next #TBRChallenge day is set for Wednesday, May 21 and our theme is Older Couple.

This suggestion came out of my annual theme poll, and is all about characters who are past the first blush of youth. Characters on the other side of 40, who may or may not (depending on circumstances) seem somewhat "settled." Hey, romance and falling in love just ain't for the youthful!

I'm going to be honest, this theme took some research on my part to see what was buried in my TBR that would qualify and if this all seems like too much work for you remember that the themes are completely optional.  Remember our goal with this challenge is always to read something, anything, that has been languishing in your TBR piles.

Also, a reminder that it's not too late to sign-up for the Challenge (fun fact: it's never too late to sign up!).  For more details and for a list of participants, you can check out the 2025 #TBRChallenge page.

Mini-Reviews: Back In My Day

I just wrapped up two reads that were the literary equivalent of injecting nostalgia directly into my veins and while I had a good time with both of them, I'm not moved enough for full scale reviews which means, yes - it's time for another patented round of Auntie Wendy mini-reviews!

Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour is an oral history, featuring interviews from multiple people who were there (musicians, promoters, agents, you name it...), for the music festival that helped kick alternative music and "grunge" into the mainstream. The book covers 1991-1997, when Perry Farrell was heavily involved, with the rebirth of the festival (2003) getting touched on in what serves as an epilogue chunk of chapters.

I never attended the traveling music festival (which is what made it very unique when it launched in 1991) despite being the key demographic for the middle years.  This was a real nostalgic trip for me for my formative late teens / early twenties and a stark reminder of how gross the 1990s could be. This was the era that gave us the notion of the "romantic" heroin addict musician after all, with a fair amount of misogyny tossed in for added flavor.  And don't get me started on the freak show thing - I got feelings y'all. 

Despite all that, I enjoyed this, especially all the behind the scenes stuff.  That first year felt very much like "hey gang, let's put on a show!" and the fact that this band of misfits managed to not only pull it off, but make it a success is a perfect example of stranger than fiction. At turns funny and tragic, a window to a different time - when you could attend a day-long festival for around $30 and see up to nine bands just on the main stage (a second stage was introduced in year 2).  I listened to this on audio and it took a moment to get my sea legs given the oral history format, but really enjoyable from start to finish.

Grade = B

Smoke on the Water by Loren D. Estleman is the 32nd adventure for Detroit private investigator Amos Walker, and look you just can't think too long or hard about these books. The character has aged (a bit) but has largely stayed frozen in time. I mean, the first book in the series debuted in 1980 and even if you put Amos on the young side back then, this guy should now be in his 70s - assuming he'd even be alive (I'm talking a lot of concussions folks, in real life this guy would not still be walking around). 

I read Estleman because he's one of the last guys writing old school gumshoe noir, plus his atmosphere and sense of place is always pitch perfect. This go-around he ups things a notch with a post-pandemic Detroit and smoke blowing across the river from the Canadian wildfires. Honestly, it's great stuff.

Amos is hired by a law firm who need him to track down a case file that's gone missing. It's an important enough file that the lawyer who was in charge of its safe-keeping turns up dead thanks to a hit-and-run, and the bodies continue to drop once Amos, fool that he is, agrees to take the case. 

For Book 32, this stands alone reasonably well, but character development is minimal and certainly the relationships between some of the characters isn't going to be entirely fleshed out for newcomers. At this point I feel like these books are for the fans - which honestly you can say about 99% of all long-running series.

Estleman doesn't write mysteries in the true sense of the word, these are very much crime stories and the plots can sometimes stray into vague or convoluted (which it does here), but it's not why I'm reading these books. Besides being the last of a dying breed, Estleman is what I call "a professional writer." If the book contracts dried up he'd probably write ad copy for breakfast cereal. He's a pro, and I like reading books by pros. They can spin a yarn and turn a phrase. Estleman's added bonus is that he cracks wise and I love the way he writes about Detroit. If there's a next book in this series, I'll be reading it.

Final Grade = B-

Review: The Spy Coast

My sickness of letting books by favorite authors languish in my TBR continues with The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen, the first book in her new Martini Club series for Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint. This came out in November 2023. I recall this off the top of my head because Gerritsen made a few booksigning stops in my part of the world around early December that year and I picked up autographed copies as Christmas presents for my two sisters, one of whom I know for a fact read it and liked it. I kept skipping over it to read other things (many of which were not, quite frankly, near as good) and when book two in the series came out in March I knew I was being ridiculous and moved it up to the top of the pile, and then proceeded to not read a single word of anything for several weeks. Seriously, this slump is killing me. But once I did start this? I inhaled it.

Maggie Bird is former CIA, a spy who walked away after a job went wrong. At the suggestion of former work colleagues who also settled there, she purchases a farmhouse in tiny Purity, Maine, raises chickens, and mostly keeps to herself - other than those former work colleagues and her closest neighbors (a grandfather raising his teenage granddaughter). Being in the middle of nowhere, and the fact that very few people pay attention to 60-year-old women, Maggie's life is quiet and unpredictable - that is until her past comes calling.

A woman shows up, wanting Maggie's help in locating a former work colleague who fled Paris leaving behind the dead bodies of a couple of assassins. They think Diana is now in Bangkok and are hoping Maggie can narrow down their search. Maggie and Diana did not part on good terms, plus Maggie is retired. She tells this woman to take a hike - only to find her dead body, with signs of torture, dumped in her driveway a day later.

Jo Thibodeau is Purity's interim police chief, having assumed the job after the former chief died from a heart attack. Jo grew up in Purity and her job is mostly dealing with domestic cases, rowdy drunks, and various shenanigans when the tourists blow into town during the summer months. A murdered woman who was tortured before her death is just not something they see...um, ever. And what's the story on Maggie Bird? This woman is way too calm and cool for someone who came home from a dinner party to find a dead body in her driveway. And her security system? Way to fancy-schmancy for a mere chicken farmer. Suddenly Jo finds herself running into Maggie's "friends" all over town asking nosy questions and tracing the very same steps in the investigation she is.

Gerritsen employs my well-documented, least favorite, suspense writing tic in this book, that of the non-linear timeline. That said, it works here. The story is mostly told from Maggie's perspective, although we also get Jo's and Diana's points of view which help to flesh out the plot. The plot travels between Bangkok, London, Malta and Maine as Maggie tries to puzzle out why now, after 16 years of quiet retirement, someone wants her dead - and how is Diana connected to it all? One thing is for sure, she needs to find out what's going on before Purity's police chief does, because that young woman is too observant by half. 

There's been a string of mystery and suspense novels lately featuring "old people" although it pains me to call 60 old. This book succeeds where some of those others have failed (for me) because Maggie and her friends feel like retired spies. They're jaded and suspicious. They keep to themselves and really only trust each other (and just barely at that), having all been through the fire together at the agency. They also have kept up with their various skills but they also aren't superheroes. Maggie is still a crack shot but nobody in the Martini Club is out here kung fu fighting or rappelling down mountains. They face and escape danger like the smart ex-spies that they are - by being sneaky and covert.

I'll admit I had this one solved before the finish, but it's a great time getting there as the author slowly unfolds Maggie's past and what happened on that job gone wrong 16-years ago. It's also got a humdinger of a finish with Maggie, and her friendships, growing stronger over the course of the story. The one benefit of me waiting so long to read this?  Book two is already out and waiting for me.

Final Grade = B+

Hip-Hop We Don't Stop: Unusual Historicals for April 2025

April brings us springtime and half-priced Easter candy (celebrate the resurrection with half-priced Cadbury Creme Eggs, that's my motto). It also, apparently, means (in 2025) a bumper crop of unusual historicals, including new books from longtime authors of the subgenre and the latest entries in several on-going series. 

Marriage Bargain with the Comte by Parker J. Cole

From first kiss 

To husband and wife? 

Dieudonné, the Comte de Montreau, steps in when he catches a disreputable suitor trying to ruin his friend, heiress Evena. Only to accidentally compromise her himself, forcing them to wed!  

Dieudonné might be the man who occupies Evena’s thoughts, but he’s not the well-connected nobleman she needs to help her ailing father. And now, as they head to the altar, their friendship is in jeopardy, too! Could her convenient husband ever see her as more than a burden…and could their bond become something even more thrilling?

First book in the new Proposals in Paris duet featuring two sisters travels between 18th century Haiti and Paris. Evena needs to marry a man with connections (and presumably power) and instead she somehow finds herself marching down the aisle to marry a long-time friend. I mean, yeah, she's thinks about him too much, but this is not the husband she was looking for - or is she? 

A Lady's Guide to London by Faye Delacour

If he won't add her business into his guidebook, she'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

Della Danby is determined to prove she's more than just a flighty heiress riding on her parents' money to get through life. When her closest friend and business partner finds her hands full with a new baby, Della takes the opportunity to shoulder more responsibility at their ladies' gambling club and secure their financial stability, and she has the perfect idea: to drum up new business by adding their club to a popular guidebook of local attractions.

Gambling ruined Viscount Lyman Ashton's life and his marriage. He has no intention of putting a new club in his guide, nor of getting involved with its intriguing and energetic proprietress. But when Della refuses to take no for an answer and approaches his publisher with a plan to write her own book of attractions for ladies, Lyman reluctantly agrees to collaborate with her in exchange for the money he so desperately needs to pay his debts. As they grow closer, Lyman finds himself falling for Della even though his past could jeopardize her reputation. But if they can ever have a future together, Della may have to choose between the club she's worked so hard to build and her chance at love.

The second book in the early Victorian-set Lucky Ladies of London series addresses the elephant in the room of gambling hell set historical romances - namely gambling addiction, which has existed as long as gambling has (so for all eternity).  What happens when a heroine in the business because of independence falls for a man in recovery from a gambling addiction?  I'm intrigued to see how the author will walk this tightrope.

The Courtesan's Protector by Jess Michaels

Former champion pugilist Campbell Ripley has been fascinated by Jane Kendall since the first time he saw her in the middle of a fight and she distracted him enough to cause his famous scar. But people like Jane and Ripley are jaded and know that a happily ever after isn’t for them. The kind of powerful connection they feel can only cause pain and danger. So they’ve become friends and that’s all it can be.

Until Jane receives word that her beloved younger sister, who she has been protecting from her life as a courtesan, has vanished. She turns to Ripely for help and the two embark on a journey to find her that will finally break down walls, allow for powerful passions and perhaps even heal more than mere physical scars.

If only the two of them can let each other in and start to trust that the friendship they share and the desire they can no longer fight is actually a love that will change them both for the better.

Book four in the About an Earl series, he's a former champion boxer and she's a courtesan. Despite mutual tingly bits, they know they can never be more than friends, until the day that the heroine's sister goes missing. I am utter trash for heroines with "reputations" and Michaels is known for writing steam. Just inject this straight into my eyeballs. 

Hazardous to a Duke's Heart by Sabrina Jeffries

Napoleon’s war has ended, and English captives detained for years in a French fortress are finally released. Returning to a London he no longer recognizes, and facing astonishing changes in his own family, Lord Jonathan Leighton learns he has inherited a dukedom. But the new nobleman carries the guilt of having wronged his late mentor. Now, he vows to fulfill his promise to find a suitable match for the man’s daughter, Victoria—even if it takes offering a nonexistent dowry to spark her interest in matrimony . . .

Sharp-witted Victoria would just as soon sculpt the Greek god who has come to take charge of her future. In fact, she has her sights set on founding a school for women artists. As Jonathan matches wits with the talented beauty, revelations from his past—and their connection to her father’s demise—threaten to unveil both of their closely held secrets and thrust them into a danger they can only escape together.

Jeffries is back with book one in the Lords of Hazard series. A former prisoner of war returns home a changed man, with a title he was not expected to inherit. He also needs to make amends, which puts him in the orbit of the heroine whose only ambition is to start a school for women artists.

Secret Princess for the Warrior by Michelle Styles

Born to be enemies

Sworn to become lovers?

When Viking Karn finds himself shipwrecked on enemy territory, even his razor-sharp, battle-hardened instincts could never have foreseen being rescued by tantalizing maiden Maer…

Maer is stunned to learn that Karn hails from the kingdom that was once her home. And that his father was responsible for the brutal end to her family’s reign, forcing Maer to become a princess-in-hiding! She should hate Karn but instead finds herself irresistibly drawn to the brooding warrior. He could be the key to her return, but can she trust him with her feelings—and her royal secret?

He's a Viking shipwrecked in enemy territory, she's a princess living in exile thanks to the hero's father. Ah, reunited and it feels so good in Styles' latest for Harlequin Historical. 

A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch

Before entering into a supremely-advantageous arranged marriage with James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst, clever, independent Lady Meg Pinwell has to see if he’s really the rake he’s rumored to be. But how is a well-bred young lady going to make sure he’s the man she wants?

With the help of her Aunt Clara, they plan some discreet reconnaissance at the Duke’s country estate. Meg will pretend to be her aunt’s maid/companion to see the true state of affairs at Earnhurst Manor.

But Meg isn’t the only one pretending to be someone she isn’t: In order to escape Clara (who is surely a marriage hunter!), James has traded places with the excellent Riniken, the former Duke’s butler. Soon everyone is falling in love with the absolute wrong person! They say the course of true love never does run smooth… at Earnhurst, it’s running amuck!

Early reviews on this one confirm it's a farcical Regency screwball comedy where everyone (hero, heroine, her aunt, his man of business...) are all pretending to be someone they're not and of course everyone ends of falling in love along the way. Should be just the ticket for rom-com and light historical fans.

The Duke and Lady Scandal by Christy Carlyle

Alexandra Prince is clever, outspoken, and, yes, perhaps a bit impulsive. Yet she’s always been overshadowed by her siblings. While they are off on adventurous expeditions, she’s the one left to keep the family’s antique shop going while she works on a book about lady pirates—and longs for an adventure of her own. When she overhears a group of suspicious customers whispering about a plan to steal the Crown Jewels, she knows it’s her opportunity to shine. But she needs a little help.

Detective Inspector Benedict Drake takes his duties at Scotland Yard seriously. In fact, he takes almost everything seriously. Except for the breathless beauty who crashes into his office to tell him about a ludicrous scheme to steal the Crown Jewels. Despite his turning her away, she keeps popping up wherever he goes, and he’s not sure whether she’s determined to cause a scandal or is trying to drive him to distraction. Just when he thinks he’s rid of her, an event compels him to believe her account, and he begrudgingly enlists her aid to thwart the theft of the century.

But while thieves seek the Crown Jewels, the troublesome bluestocking he can’t seem to keep away from might just steal his heart…

Book one in the late Victorian-set Princes of London series and we have more rom-com style shenanigans. A heroine prone to being overlooked overhears a plot to steal the Crown Jewels. Our hero is a Scotland Yard inspector she reports the plot to, and naturally he doesn't take her seriously (at first) but the chit is nothing but persistent. 

A Governess to Redeem Him by Lotte R. James

To claim their future

They must rewrite their past…

Eighteen years ago, Juliana Myles fled her home and built a new life as a governess, believing her childhood sweetheart had been sentenced to death! Now Sebastian Lloyd is back from the dead and wants Juliana’s help in proving his innocence…

Sebastian has spent a lifetime running from an unjust verdict. But he’s tired of being haunted by his past. Yet working with Juliana to capture the true culprit also means being confronted by searing memories of their passionate history. And the temptation to bring their love story back to life…

What happens when the childhood sweetheart you thought was dead shows up on your doorstep very much alive and claiming his innocence?  Our heroine finds out in James' latest Gothic-tinged romance for Harlequin Historical.

A Daring Pursuit by Kathy L. Wheeler

Twenty years after a fateful night that shattered her family, Geneva Wimbley discovers a truth hidden in the floors of her childhood home: a half-written letter from her mother to a man Geneva only remembers as the great, swirling greatcoat, evidence of a betrayal that sends her to the crumbling estate of the Earl of Pender.

But the earl is dead, and the man who greets her in his stead is the enigmatic Noah Oshea, the late earl’s second son, who now holds the keys to the parts of her past still locked away.

Drawn to Miss Wimbley’s fiery resolve, Noah is determined to unravel her connection to his family’s dark history. Yet with her arrival comes a chilling string of murders—and whispers of a truth that refuses to be silenced.

As danger creeps closer, Geneva and Noah must untangle a web of lies and long-buried sins. But in the wilds of Northumberland, where passions burn as fiercely as the secrets they uncover, the most significant peril might be the surrendering their hearts.

The second book in the Victorian Gothic Clandestine Sapphire Society features a heroine desperate for answers landing on the hero's doorstep. Then there are some murders and things get complicated, as they do. The "Flame" tagline on this also implies some heat to the romance.

Taming the Earl by Elizabeth Heights

1301A.D. Morwenna can talk to horses. They certainly make better conversation than the feckless youths she’s grown up with. But it isn’t wise for a young woman with no protector to wield such gifts in an age of witchcraft and superstition. When hard times befall her village, the finger of blame points to Morwenna. And then she is summoned to see the earl…

As a younger brother, Angus never expected to become Earl of Wolvesley. Now the safety of everything he holds dear depends on him alone. To secure his estate, he needs a wife and an heir. But his betrothed refuses to name their wedding date until Angus proves he can tame her wild horse.

Terrified of what awaits her, Morwenna arrives in Wolvesley to find comfortable lodgings, secure employment and regular coin. In return, all she has to do is train a challenging horse. It would all be so easy – if only the handsome earl didn’t set her pulse racing.

Angus is a man of learning. As the local law-maker, he is well-used to controlling his emotions – as well as everything else in Wolvesley. The last thing he expects is to fall under the spell of an enchanting horse trainer.

The difference in their class and status is more than enough to make Morwenna fear for her heart. But then she discovers that the Earl of Wolvesley is not only the King’s judiciary, but a man with a long-held hatred of sorcery.

And she is a suspected witch.

How's this for high stakes conflict? In this third book in the Earls of the North series, our heroine is called to the hero's estate to train a horse so his betrothed will finally agree to set a wedding date. He's engaged and has a healthy hatred for sorcery. And the heroine? Her gift for training horses makes her...a suspected witch. Seriously, this is a mess out of the gate and I'm already salivating over the potential angst-fest.

The Lucky Catch by Margaux Thorne

Revenge is on her mind, but love is in her heart...

Lady Maggie knows two things for certain: dogs make better companions than people and handsome viscounts are not to be trusted. She craves an independent life where she can play cricket with her friends, never allowing something as unstable as love to cloud her judgment. But when childhood enemy Lord Michael Viscount Burlington waltzes back into her life, her steadfast beliefs fly out the window at his first rakish smile. When he spends a night toying with her emotions, forcing Maggie to dig up old feelings she thought she’d buried long ago, she quickly realizes that he hasn’t changed a bit. More importantly, Lord Michael deserves a taste of his own medicine. Maggie comes up with a plan: she will make the viscount fall in love with her, and the second she holds his heart in her hand, she’ll break it.

But as Maggie puts her plan into action, she notices right away that the viscount isn’t the teasing boy she once knew.

Lord Michael is no stranger to breaking things. He’s spent most of his life bare-knuckle boxing and would love nothing more than to focus on a career in the ring rather than his duties as a viscount. When his father urges him to put all that behind him and find a wife, Michael is not interested in any of the mealy-mouthed, docile ladies he’s presented with—not when Lady Maggie is always there to grab his attention. She’s everything he shouldn’t want and everything he wants to be: opinionated, wild, desperately independent. She’s also the only person who understands Michael’s family’s past and why fighting means so much to him.

When Michael gets the opportunity to fight the bare-knuckle champion, he’s ready for all of his hard work to pay off. With Maggie by his side, he’s never felt stronger. But Maggie can’t say the same. Her plan is unraveling. She was so fixated on stealing Michael’s heart that she was blind to his doing the same to her.

Can Maggie learn to let go? Can she trust Michael with her love and her future, or will he leave her like all the other people in her life? She’s terrified that the quiet, single future that she envisioned for herself is about to blow up in her face. Because revenge was on her mind, but now love is in her heart.

And everyone knows that love is a dish best served hot!

Seriously, are boxers the new Dukes? I feel like we're seeing an uptick in historical romance hero boxers. Anyway, book four in The Cricket Club series features a heroine with a convoluted plot for revenge (for reasons) and a hero who is feeling the pressure to settle down and become a respectable viscount. Naturally none of it goes according to plan.

A Touch of Charm by Sara Adrien

Dr. Andre Fernando has poured his heart and soul into healing others at the renowned 87 Harley Street practice. To his colleagues, he is the handsome Italian doctor with unmatched skill, but only Andre knows the painful secret he keeps—a truth that bars him from claiming the life he truly wants. When a nighttime highwayman attack thrusts Princess Thea into his arms, his carefully constructed world begins to crack. Escorting her to safety is one thing—but falling for the spirited woman desperate to escape her royal chains may cost him all he’s worked for.

An impossible love in a world that won't allow it.

Princess Thea ran away from an unwanted betrothal and thought she’d escaped. Hoping she’d abandoned a crown for freedom, hiding as a governess, she doesn’t realize that the villains followed her. But when a dangerous encounter lands her in the care of a stunningly selfless—albeit frustratingly loyal—doctor, she falls for his calm strength and piercing kindness. As Andre's brilliance and his tender kisses set her ablaze, can Thea fight for this impossible love and still escape the chains of her royal station?

He doesn't just see her title; he sees the woman beneath the disguise—the woman she wants to be.

Their connection is unmistakable, their passion undeniable. But every stolen moment comes at a cost. Secrets threaten to destroy them; danger looms with every heartbeat. Beneath the weight of society’s rules and the pull of duty, their hearts forge a bond that defies reason.

But danger looms over every step they take. As she faces threatening villains and his secret looms, their fragile love comes at high stakes.

He's an Italian doctor working London, she's a princess on the run from an unwanted betrothal. Besides the villains chasing her down there's the small complication of them being from two completely different worlds. This is the third book in the Miracles on Harley Street.

A Baron's Son is Undone by Olivia Elliott

The Baron’s Son

George Pemberton lives his life by a tightly drawn schedule of tidiness and efficiency. Everything in his world is lined up in orderly rows or tucked away into neat little boxes. He also keeps a secret—one that has its tendrils coiled around him, squeezing him tight. Occasionally—just occasionally—he breaks free for a moment: he picks a fight, he slams a fist, and in the aftermath, he finds a welcome yet temporary reprieve.

The Pirate’s Daughter

Sophie does not know how long her father will keep her in Cornwall away from prying eyes and wagging tongues. In a way, it doesn’t matter: her future is not her own, so she may as well make the most of the present. Her father’s hired man Duncan has allowed her out to the tavern at night where she has found some solace in friendly conversation and the occasional game of dice or cards. Sophie finds joy where she can, even as the storm clouds roll in overhead.

Together . . .

When George encounters Sophie milling about with women of ill repute and working men in a Cornish tavern, he is intrigued as much by her air of playfulness as by the halo of sorrow that rests over her. Being a perceptive man, he recognises that there is something about her that seems injured.

One night, Sophie encounters Mr. Pemberton stripped to the waist and covered in blood after a fight. Unfortunately, she does not find the sight unappealing, and she does not know what to do when her thoughts of Mr. Pemberton begin to take a rather wicked turn.

Can one person truly come to know another? And can love find a way to inhabit the dark and secret places that live inside the heart?

Third book in The Pemberton Series features an orderly, tightly wound, hero with self-harm tendencies (that's how I'm reading the back cover blurb) and a heroine tucked away in the countryside because Daddy is a pirate. Their paths cross on a night she sneaks off to the tavern and encounters him covered in blood after a fight. At the time of this posting there wasn't a sample up on Amazon yet, but the first two books do have samples and are available in Kindle Unlimited. Also, because I know this will be of interest to some of my blog readers, the author is Canadian. 

Another marathon month for the "dying" historical subgenre with 13 new unusual historical titles. What has piqued your curiosity this month?

Review: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

One thing the collective we don't talk about enough is how what format you consume a story in can affect your enjoyment of that story, for good or ill.  As a long time audiobook listener (cough, cassettes, cough), I learned this very early on. I'll be honest, most narrators land in a middle ground for me. I don't notice them half the time. But the really bad ones?  Those stick out. Which brings me to The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick, the first in her Burning Cove series.  If I had read this it would have fallen into the very definition of a comfort read for me. Quick is a pro and can spin a good story, despite some foibles in this story that didn't work for me. No, instead I listened to the audio edition narrated by Louise Jane Underwood, and folks - it was not good. But more on that in a minute....

Spoilers

Anna Harris is an efficient, competent secretary for a wealthy woman in New York, until the night she shows up at her employer's country house to discover the woman very much dead. Obviously murdered, what with the blood spatter all over the place. In fact there's so much blood that her employer scrawls out a message to Anna - "Run."  As Anna is grabbing her personal belongings she finds that the shoebox where she was stashing her savings contains a lot more money than what she saved, a mysterious notebook, and a letter from her employer explaining that the notebook is valuable and that Anna might be able to use it for leverage.  The fly in the ointment? Anna can't make heads or tails of the numbers and scribblings in the notebook.

Anna ends up running all the way to Los Angeles, California, changes her name to Irene Glasson, and takes a job writing for a seedy gossip rag. This is the 1930s, gossip about Hollywood stars is in high demand, and Irene has stumbled into a humdinger of a story about a rising leading man. She heads to Burning Cove, an exclusive resort outside of LA that caters to the Hollywood elite, to meet with a woman who says she has dirt on this leading man. Too bad when Irene goes to meet this woman she finds her very much dead, drowned in the hotel's spa. I mean, this girl and dead bodies - what are the odds?

Oliver Ward is a former magician and was rather successful until an on stage "accident" ended his career. Now he owns the Burning Cove Hotel.  He prides himself on the exclusivity and privacy his hotel offers, so Irene, a reporter, being there isn't great, but the dead body is more worrisome.  I mean, he can't have guests getting murdered in his establishment, it's bad for business. So to get his own answers he's going to stick close to Irene, and they agree to work as a team. Of course things get stickier when Irene's past comes back to haunt her. 

I want to start off by saying I loved the setting of this story and Quick does a great job with it. 1930s California, a golden era in Hollywood movies, the fashion, night clubs catering to the elite in a post-Prohibition world, it's all great stuff.

So what's the problem?  This narrator y'all. The voices for Oliver and Irene were fine but the majority of the secondary characters were just terrible. The women sound like Gal Fridays in screwball comedies and the men all sound like 1930s radio ad men.  It's like the characters were SCREAMING! IN! ALL! CAPS! WITH! ENDLESS! EXCLAMATION! POINTS!

This was exhausting. And annoying. And because it was annoying I started to nit-pick things that I suspect would have rolled right off my back had I read this book.

Anna is on the run and in the 1930s assuming a new identity was easier than it is today. She also does a decent job of covering her tracks and is smart to run across the entire country. Then she loses me by taking a job has a gossip columnist in Los Angeles when waitress or factory worker are RIGHT THERE! For that matter she could have buried herself someplace like Middle of Nowhere, Oregon and nobody would have found her. Of course the bad guy who murdered her former boss ends up finding her and the way he finds her?  Through her current job of course (her picture ends up in the papers because of course it does).

Then there's the two mysteries thing - which felt like word count filler. The Hollywood mystery should have been enough, but instead we get the first murder which bakes in a espionage plot and then we have the secret of what happened when Oliver almost got killed on stage and it all felt disjointed. As a reader I was getting pulled into too many different directions.

The romance is fine but a little flat. Oliver and Irene make a good team in the mystery department but I'm not sure I really got "passion" and of course there's a marriage proposal after they've known each other for, like, a week. 

I ended up slogging my way to the end and was happy to put it behind me because y'all, this narrator. Oof!  Had I read this book my grade would probably be around a B-. I think I still would have nitpicked the plot half to death (I'm nothing if not on brand) but I would have ended this review with something like "it's not perfect but I had a good time reading it and inhaled it in two sittings."  Instead after a 2+ week slog on audio, we're left here.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2025: Greek Heir to Claim Her Heart

The Book: Greek Heir to Claim Her Heart by Jennifer Faye

The Particulars: Harlequin Romance #4794, Contemporary romance, first in trilogy, 2022, Out of print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a more recent release and it was in the print TBR, which means this was an impulse buy at either a used bookstore or library book sale (likely the latter).  These days the vast majority of my new Harlequin purchases are in eBook.

The Review: The best way to describe this book is inoffensive but bland. It's the kind of book that starts to fade from my memory the moment I finish the final page. I'm not sure this makes it "bad" but it definitely makes it flat.

Hermione Kappas was all alone in the world (and homeless) when she took a job at an exclusive luxury resort on a private Greek island. This is the kind of place that doesn't need to advertise that magically stays afloat by rich people in the know who talk the place up to their equally rich friends. Anyway, Hermione has worked her way up the food chain and is now the resort manager. She loves her job and has a nice little "found family" among the other resort staff.  The fly in the ointment?  The longtime owner has passed away and her estranged son has inherited the whole enchilada. 

Atlas Othonos runs a very successful security firm and needless to say he does not want to deal with his mother's death nor this inheritance. The woman abandoned him. Just up and left Atlas to be raised by his cold fish father. No contact, no nothing - poof! She's there one minute, gone the next. Needless to say he feels some kind of way finding out his mother owned a resort on a private island and that she built this whole new life where she was well-liked and respected while never giving a second thought to the son she just left behind like an out of season designer dress donated to a charity stop.  His plan is to get in, get out, and sell the resort to the first person with a reasonable offer that comes along. 

Thanks to terrible weather and a car accident, Hermione and Atlas unceremoniously meet and of course she doesn't disclose right away that she's the resort manager - which of course gets Atlas all butt-hurt when he finds out.  This unintended subterfuge doesn't last long but it's the first in many instances of the conflict lacking credibility or urgency. Anyway, he's grumpy and Hermione is determined to have Atlas fall in love with the resort so he won't want to sell and everybody can keep their jobs.  

The conflict here is all internal. Atlas was estranged from his mother and is rather put-out that she was Mary Mother of Private Greek Islands to everyone at the resort. There's absolutely no questions from Hermione of "hey, why are you a jackass and never talked to nor visited your mother?" nor is there any moment of Atlas retorting, "this woman you thought was so great just left me without a by-your-leave and dropped off the planet leaving me to be raised by my asshole father so yeah, my apologies I don't think she was all that and a bottle of ouzo."  Basically he just grumps around and she tries to get him to see how great the island and resort are.

Then there's the fact that Hermione's ex was always undermining her and chipping away at her self-esteem, questioning her choices and implying she wasn't doing something (OK, anything) right.  So when Atlas steps in to offer to help her out (which comes in the form of planning a big Valentine's Day party at the resort) she immediately thinks he's implying she's not capable or competent in her job.  I mean, seriously. She sets the land speed record for jumping to conclusions. This could work as conflict if the author spent any time developing it, but she doesn't. This, along with Atlas' feelings about his mother are written in a "by the way..." manner. It's all surface. I realize the limitations of category length but pages upon pages of angst aren't needed to accomplish this. A modicum of depth would have done the job. One or two heartfelt conversations between the couple or one of them and a secondary character would have gone a long way.

There's a number of secondary characters, including a prince from a made-up country (ugh, I miss the days when Harlequin Romances featured normal, everyday characters....), the resort concierge, and a friend of Atlas', who he is trying to sell the resort to. They're mostly there as sequel bait, although the concierge plays a healthier role as she's trying to throw Hermione and Atlas together as much as possible.

Of course things are torn asunder for a third act break-up and of course Atlas falls into a giant vat of melted Velveeta dialogue to win Hermione back.  Declarations of true love, a marriage proposal and they all live happily ever after.

Is this the worst category romance I've ever read? Hardly. But there's just not much here. The conflict could have worked for me but it lacks any sort of urgency or oomph to make it compelling. A hero with abandonment issues? A heroine with self-esteem issues? I mean, the angst should be dripping off the pages here. Instead it's mentioned in a way that felt like the author was ticking boxes and, as a result, I wasn't emotionally invested.

It's a quick read and I wasn't reading angry, but I was reading to get to the end so I could move on to something more compelling in my TBR.  Very much meh.

Final Grade = C