A lasciviously entertaining Regency romp.
A scarred, sharp-tongued nobleman meets his feisty match in Howard’s (What a Scot Wants, 2013, etc.) historical romance.
It’s 1819, and 25-year-old Lady Astrid Everleigh, a cash-strapped Englishwoman, must find a way to save her 16-year-old sister, Isobel, from getting married off to the loathsome Earl of Beaumont; Astrid previously refused his proposal herself, and as a result, he ruined her reputation and marriage prospects with a “horrible lie about her lack of virtue.” For hard-to-understand reasons, Astrid’s only hope is to marry the wealthy, powerful, and single Lord Thane Harte, Duke of Beswick, and she puts the proposal to him after barging in on his bath. Alas, she’s horrified by the scars, left by French bayonets years ago, on Thane’s face and body—a result of Beaumont’s abandoning his post, and a subsequent French ambush. Thane’s temper earned him the moniker “the Beast of Beswick.” Fortunately, she observes, the French spared his “luscious mouth,” “burning” eyes, and muscular torso—among other body parts. Instant bickering ensues, and when Astrid installs herself with Isobel at Beswick Park to catalog Thane’s Ming porcelains, the attraction between Astrid and the duke grows. The young noblewoman also voices feminist theory, which Thane eagerly appreciates—though sometimes less for what she says than how she says it: “Her eyes shone with indignant passion, lips parted, breasts heaving.” Their wedding night comes rather early on, but Howard successfully keeps the sparks flying thanks to Thane’s self-pitying mood cycles—worried that Astrid will leave him because of his scars, he gets cold and nasty; Astrid snaps back and maddens him with scandalous gowns, and bodice-ripping follows. The author’s reprise of “Beauty and the Beast” motifs effectively mixes Jane Austen–ite manners with lewd mores. However, it’s full of anachronistic language—“I don’t want a fucking prince, you idiot. They’re too pretty, too full of themselves, too much maintenance”—and suffers third-act problems as long-anticipated comeuppances fizzle inconclusively. Fortunately, vigorous prose, lively characters—including Thane’s Aunt Mabel, who beds all the footmen—and lubricious rounds of fighting and sex will keep readers turning pages.
A lasciviously entertaining Regency romp.Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-741-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hannah, after eight paperbacks, abandons her successful time-travelers for a hardcover life of kitchen-sink romance. Everyone must have got the Olympic Peninsula memo for this spring because, as of this reading, authors Hannah, Nora Roberts, and JoAnn Ross have all placed their newest romances in or near the Quinault rain forest. Here, 40ish Annie Colwater, returns to Washington State after her husband, high-powered Los Angeles lawyer Blake, tells her he’s found another (younger) woman and wants a divorce. Although a Stanford graduate, Annie has known only a life of perfect wifedom: matching Blake’s ties to his suits and cooking meals from Gourmet magazine. What is she to do with her shattered life? Well, she returns to dad’s house in the small town of Mystic, cuts off all her hair (for a different look), and goes to work as a nanny for lawman Nick Delacroix, whose wife has committed suicide, whose young daughter Izzy refuses to speak, and who himself has descended into despair and alcoholism. Annie spruces up Nick’s home on Mystic Lake and sends “Izzy-bear” back into speech mode. And, after Nick begins attending AA meetings, she and he become lovers. Still, when Annie learns that she’s pregnant not with Nick’s but with Blake’s child, she heads back to her empty life in the Malibu Colony. The baby arrives prematurely, and mean-spirited Blake doesn’t even stick around to support his wife. At this point, it’s perfectly clear to Annie—and the reader—that she’s justified in taking her newborn daughter and driving back north. Hannah’s characters indulge in so many stages of the weeps, from glassy eyes to flat-out sobs, that tear ducts are almost bound to stay dry. (First printing of 100,000; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Literary Guild/Doubleday book club selections)
Pub Date: March 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-609-60249-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
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