sexy historical romance

Book Review: The Ravenels Series by Lisa Kleypas

I started reading the Ravenel series because one of my favorite podcasts, Fated Mates, did a review of Marrying Winterborne, book 2 in the series. As a result, I read these out of order, starting with Book 2. I do not recommend that - I spend the first 30 minutes very confused about who all the characters were. As a result, I’m reviewing them in the actual order, not the order I consumed them.

I’ve listened to all these as audiobooks - the narrator, Mary Jane Wells is excellent. I read books 1-4 in 2022, so the reviews of those are screenshots from my Instagram highlights. The remainder are 2023 reads, so the reviews look a little different. The series follows the members of the Ravenel family and the ways they fall in love. They are all very sexy, feminist romances, and you may find yourself learning a little bit about British societal customs of the time along the way (for the record, I think the customs are absolute bullshit).

Devil’s Daughter - West Ravenel’s book!

Devil’s Daughter

This is the book I’ve been waiting for since my first Ravenel book - West Ravenel, former rake turned farmer finds his match! And it was so worth the wait. His paths cross with Lady Clare (Phoebe), the widow of West’s former classmate and the chemistry is instant. Open door, like all the others in this series, but what I like most about this is that Phoebe is very clearly the one in pursuit. I stuck with the audiobook as with the rest of the series, and Mary Jane Wells just kills it AGAIN!!

Overall grade: 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Chasing Cassandra

This may be my favorite book in the series mainly because how much I like Tom Severin! He has a very dry, sardonic manner that I very much appreciate, captured beautifully by narrator Mary Jane Wells. I listened to this whole series and it was such a delight!

OVERALL grade: 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book review: Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

If you like English regency romances, this one set in Vienna around the same time period is right up your alley. Why? Because frankly the Viennese were more fun than the English - their societal rules weren’t quite as rigid and this book makes it sound like everyone was down for a good time. This book is set at a hotel in Vienna, featuring the proprietress of the hotel and an American who is in Vienna to investigate the leaking of top secret codes. It’s got intrigue, found family, actual family, a big ball, oh and a little espionage and mystery. Very much open door, and in this scenario our central lead Maria is the “rake”.

 Overall Review: 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release date 3/28/2023


Image credits may be found on my Pinterest board

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Book Review: Girls Before Earls by Anna Bennett

GIrls before Earls by Anna Bennett

This is a historical romance between Hazel Lively, a headmistress of a school for women in an English beach town, and the Earl of Bladenton (Blade) who needs a school for his orphaned, estranged niece. This one is a class-difference romance, which is a new subgenre for me. Overall this was fine, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed some other historical romances. I listened to this as an audiobook - it’s part of a series, but I’m not compelled to continue.

 Overall rating: 3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. As always, please support your local libraries and bookstores.