Bonus Review: Carly's Rule

Carly’s Rule

By Vickie King

Publisher: Bell Bridge Books

Release Date: 

September 16, 2013

Carly Braddock returned to her hometown of Corrigan, West Virginia, after a two-year relationship with a hotel magnate ended. The biggest heartbreak was not losing the hotelier but rather his four-year-old son to whom Carly had become a mother and the child’s pain over losing the only mother he had known. The experience left her determined to avoid single fathers in the future. It also left her newly focused on making a success of her bakery and café, Sugar Plums. She is proud of what she has achieved her first year in business for herself and enjoying time spent with her large, loving family and her best friend Roxie and her kids. Her biggest worry is coming up with the perfect sugar cookie recipe. That changes one day when she sees Luke Donovan sitting in Sugar Plums.

Luke Donovan, a wood preservationist, is back in town to do some restoration work for the Corrigan Historical Society. While he’s there, he is living in the old Thaxton house, which belongs to his old friend Brian Thaxton and making repairs to it. The house is not all Luke needs to repair. He hopes that a summer with lots of one-on-one time will restore his relationship with his twelve-year-old daughter Brooke to the closeness they had always enjoyed before she entered her current rebellious stage. Luke has never forgotten the summer he spent in Corrigan fourteen years earlier, a summer when Carly Braddock and the love they shared consumed his every thought until Luke’s life was shattered and he left town without a word to Carly. They haven’t spoken since.

Luke feels guilty about Carly, and he wants a chance to explain what happened to the boy he once was to her. But Carly responds coolly to his overtures. Luke’s abandonment with no explanation was a defining experience in her life. He has no idea of Carly’s suffering. She may need closure to the chapter in her life that ended with only questions, but she has no intention of allowing herself to be vulnerable to Luke Donovan again.  Intentions are an inadequate defense against the dictates of the heart, and before long, Carly and Luke are caught up in a mix of old memories and new passion. Can they find the courage to share their secrets, to forgive past mistakes, and to claim a new life together?

Carly’s Rule marks the debut of Vickie King; it is the first book in her Braddocks series. It is a sweet reunion story with a likeable hero and heroine, both of whom have persuasive reasons for being wary of relationships. Their own truncated history is just part of their wariness. Any reader who can recall the pain of that first heartbreak can understand the power it exercises over these characters.

While the focus of the novel is clearly on Carly and Luke, King offers readers rich contexts for the central love story. Carly’s lively family, individually and collectively, add color and substance to the story. Luke’s daughter is a clearly defined personality, a combination of child and young woman that makes her a believable twelve-going-on-thirteen. Carly’s long friendship with Roxie also rings true in the ways these women show they know, understand, and protect each other. Even though Luke’s friend Brian is not actually present in the story, I liked the fact that the sustained relationship and their involvement in one another’s life revealed another dimension of Luke’s character.

The Braddocks promises to be an appealing addition to the seemingly inexhaustible number of small-town romances. Next up is the story of Carly’s brother Dusty, a private investigator. King provides just enough information about the tragedy in his life to make readers want to know more. I’m also hopeful that the hint of something developing between Roxie and another Braddock brother, Sheriff Logan, will be more than a tease. I look forward to return visits to Corrigan. If you like small-town stories sweet and evocative as Carly’s sugar cookies and with just a pinch of spice in the story, I recommend you check out Carly’s Rule.

One of the things I liked best about this story is that it takes place in West Virginia, not a typical romance location. But there is a Texas connection. Why do you think so many small-town romances are set in Texas and the Great Northwest? What’s your favorite Texas-set romance?

Tuesday Review: When the Marquess Met His Match

When the Marquess Met His Match

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: 

October 29, 2013

Once Miss Belinda Hamilton of Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the daughters of nouveau riche American millionaires snubbed by New York Knickerbocker society who married an English aristocrat and found social acceptance across the Atlantic.  But Belinda learned firsthand that such unions came with no guarantee of an HEA. At seventeen, she fell madly in love with the handsome, charming Charles, Earl of Featherstone whom she married six weeks after they met. By the time his dissolute lifestyle led to his death of heart failure five years into their marriage, Belinda’s illusions about romantic love had been shattered.

Her husband’s spendthrift ways and her father’s Wall Street speculation left the former heiress a widow of modest means, but her place in English society is secure. That status allows her to supplement her income by serving as a marriage broker. Five years into her widowhood, Belinda has established a reputation as the matchmaker best suited to help wealthy young American women avoid her mistake and find an aristocratic husband who will bring them not only social status but also a happy marriage based on “a solid foundation of sincere affection, shared interests, and like minds.”

The last person Nicholas Stirling, Marquess of Trubridge, rake extraordinaire, expects to have need of is a matchmaker, but when, shortly after Nicholas turns thirty, his estranged father, the Duke of Landsdowne, cuts off the trust fund from Nicholas’s mother, the young marquess feels that marriage to a wealthy bride is his best option. Nicholas refuses to submit to the dictates of the domineering father to whom he has not spoken in eight years and marry the proper wife the duke has chosen for his heir. Since the well-known marriage broker Lady Featherstone is the sister-in-law of his good friend Jack, Nicholas decides to approach her for help, confident that she will steer him toward some likely candidates to become Marchioness of Trubridge.

Nicholas represents all that Belinda detests most, a man with a history of a life devoted to wine, women, and gaming who is marrying only for money to support his decadent lifestyle. Under no circumstances will she be instrumental in leading another young woman into the kind of disastrous marriage that Belinda knew with Featherstone. Not content simply to refuse to help Trubridge, Belinda announces that she will use her considerable influence to thwart his plans. Nicholas, angry that she has judged him by reputation without knowing any of the circumstances, accepts the challenge. The battle begins. Neither is prepared for the attraction that sparks between them and grows with every encounter. The stakes are higher than either expected, and their hearts are on the line. But both Belinda and Nicholas must grow and change before they can claim the kind of happiness they had come to believe was only the illusory dreams of innocents.

When the Marquess Met His Match is the first book in Laura Lee Guhrke’s An American Heiress in London series set in the late 19^th century. Belinda and Nicholas are intelligent, articulate people, and their dialogue is delightful. I especially enjoyed the scenes where Nicholas meets the “perfect matches” Belinda has set up based on his criteria for a wife, but the best scene occurs when Nicholas turns the tables on her and demonstrates why she meets the most important criteria.

Belinda is slow to let down her defenses, but her resistance allows time for the relationship to develop convincingly, and her forthrightness with Nicholas serves as a catalyst for the changes he must make to earn not only Belinda’s respect, but his own. I have a weakness for leonine heroes (Maybe it’s the Leo influence), and from the beginning Nicholas is described as a lordly lion in looks and attitude. I found him an immensely appealing character. And I loved the ending which brought not only the defeat of the villain and the inauguration of the HEA but also the avoidance of what easily could have become a Big Misunderstanding of dismaying proportions.

Guhrke has a gift for creating fully realized characters with rich interior lives and placing them in situations that satisfy the expectations of romance readers. She does it again with this novel. If you have enjoyed Guhrke’s Bachelor Girl or Abandoned at the Altar series, you will find this one to your taste. The American connection gives it a slightly different feel, which should add to the interest for some readers.

The hero and heroine of the next book in the series are introduced in the first book, the Duke and Duchess of Margrave, She is the former Edith Ann Jewell, and their marriage with husband and wife living on separate continents represents Belinda’s “most colossal failure” as a matchmaker. How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days will be released April 29, 2014. I can’t wait to read it. I recommend you read When the Marquess Met His Match soon so that you can join me in eagerly anticipating Book 2.

I love Regency-set historicals, but I am happy to see more romance novels with Victorian and Edwardian settings and even later. Are you strictly a Regency reader? Do you prefer variety? Or are you indifferent to historical period so long as you like the story?

Saturday Review: In Love with a Wicked Man

In Love with a Wicked Man

By Liz Carlyle

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: 

October 29, 2013

Ned Quartermaine, a man whose own notoriety exceeds that of the gambling establishment he owns, is visiting Somerset to check out an estate he has claimed from a customer in lieu of the man’s substantial gambling debts. Quartermaine has a specific purpose in mind for the property if it proves suitable, but before he can carry out his inspection, a riding accident renders him unconscious. When he regains consciousness, he not only has forgotten his purpose; he doesn’t even remember his name.

Kate, Lady d'Allenay, a baroness in her own right, is the mainstay of her family. Upon the deaths of her improvident father and brother, in the absence of a direct male heir, she became the one responsible for the family estate. It is important to her that she feels her grandfather would be proud of the steps she is taking to redress the damages inflicted by the poor stewardship of her father and brother. Although her younger sister has a male guardian, the day-to-day supervision of that stubborn, impetuous beauty also rests on Kate, as does meeting the expenses of their volatile mother. All of these concerns are weighing upon Kate when she inadvertently causes a riding accident that leaves her with a new responsibility: an injured man who doesn’t know who he is.

Kate has the stranger taken to Bellecombe Castle where she can oversee his care. Since the initials NED engraved on his personal effects provide the only clue to his identity, Kate calls him Edward. In the absence of conventions that would limit their time together in ordinary situations, the two become friends. Before long, both are aware that feelings stronger than friendship are drawing them together, but Edward’s amnesia is an effective barrier to a more serious relationship. While they struggle with temptation, the twists and tangles of the past are drawing closer to complicate and endanger the present and all its promise.

One of the things that keep me reading romance fiction is the joy of seeing a skilled author take even the most overworked plots and tropes and produce something that is different and captivating. Liz Carlyle does exactly that in this story. Amnesia can be an intrusively obvious device, but Carlyle makes it work here. She gives her readers a real sense of the panic that hits Edward when he realizes he has lost his memory, a panic magnified by his particular nature and experience which make control essential to him and by the sense of something important that taunts him just beyond the edges of memory. She balances this with the unexpected peace and feeling of home that he finds at Bellecombe with Kate.

The bad boy-good girl pairing is surely one of the oldest tropes in romance fiction, but Carlyle makes it fresh because Edward and Kate are never merely types. They are always fully and particularly themselves with unique histories and personalities. I adored Kate, a woman of intelligence, humor, and grace who knows her strengths and has confidence in her competency, yet is aware of her vulnerabilities. And she is not anachronistic! She truly is a strong heroine, in the best sense of that carelessly tossed about description. And while she is ever aware of her responsibilities to her heritage and to her family, she is never a martyr immolating herself on the altar of duty.

Carlyle also excels in weaving new stories into her fictional world. She sometimes does this with clear connections and sometimes with subtle subtext. Carlyle fans familiar with her recent Fraternitas Aureae Crucis series will recognize Ned Quartermaine as the owner of the Quartermaine Club, the gambling salon located across the street from the St. James Society. I always enjoy visiting the world Liz Carlyle creates for her readers.  In Love with a Wicked Man was a special treat since it is less fraught than Carlyle’s books often are. If you are a fan of historical romance that is true to the period and peopled with characters who will engage your interest and affection, I highly recommend this book.

I cherish historical romance authors whose world building skills rival those of authors in other genres. Liz Carlyle and Jo Beverley top my list of such authors. What romance authors demonstrate world-building skills that you especially appreciate?

Bonus Review: The Sum of All Kisses

The Sum of All Kisses

By Julia Quinn

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: 

October 29, 2013

Lady Sarah Pleinsworth, whose mother was a Smythe-Smith, is unhappy at the thought of two upcoming weddings, neither of which is her own. First, she will serve as maid of honor for her cousin Honoria when the latter marries the Earl of Chatteris (Just Like Heaven) at Fensmore, the Chatteris estate in Cambridgeshire.  Two weeks later, she will be among those attending the wedding of Honoria’s brother, Daniel Smythe-Smith, Earl of Winstead, and Anne Wynter, former governess to Sarah’s younger sisters (A Night Like This). It’s not that Sarah isn’t happy for her cousins, but after three seasons, she expected to be married. Not only is marriage what a young woman of her class is trained for; but it is also the only way Sarah can escape participating in the dreadful Smythe-Smith musicales. She’s already pled illness as an excuse once and is doubtful that it will work again.

Lord Hugh Prentice may be the only wedding guest as reluctant to be present as Sarah. Hugh was never a bon vivant, and since the drunken duel with Daniel Smythe-Smith that left Hugh lame and Daniel an exile until recently, Hugh has become even more of a loner. Only Daniel’s insistence that Hugh’s presence at both weddings is necessary to persuade society that the duel is old news and Daniel and Hugh are friends has brought Hugh to Fensmore. The situation worsens from Hugh’s point of view when the illness of one Smythe-Smith cousin and the lack of social graces of another prompts Honoria to ask Hugh to sit at the head table as partner to Lady Sarah Pleinsworth.

Hugh and Sarah have a decided preference for avoiding one another’s company. He finds her overly dramatic, and he is aware that she dislikes him. Sarah holds Hugh responsible for the scandal resulting from the duel and for Daniel’s exile, both of which negatively affected all Smythe-Smiths and, in Sarah’s opinion, was responsible for her lack of marriage prospects. Still, neither of them is willing to do anything to detract from Honoria’s happiness, and so they agree to spend time in one another’s company. They may begin horrified at the thought of time together, but conversations, shared laughter, and a growing awareness of the other’s physical attractions soon has animosity turning to love. Unfortunately for the path of true love, Hugh is convinced that his lameness makes him less than the man Sarah deserves and his toxic relationship with his mad father creates further complications. But Sarah proves more resourceful than anyone expected.

Enemies to lovers is not a trope that I am particularly fond of, but Quinn makes it work well here. Sarah and Hugh do spend a lot of time together, and in addition to the banter at which Quinn excels, the emotional intensity between the two of them develops gradually. Their falling in love is based on more than wit and lust. Neither of these protagonists has the charm that often makes Quinn’s characters memorable, but they have their own strengths. Hugh had a truly horrific childhood, and I had no problem accepting his eccentricities given his abilities and his history, both of which set him apart from his peers. I warmed up to Sarah slowly, but by the second half of the book, I found her endearing. And I’m always in favor of a warrior heroine who saves the day.

I would like to have seen Hugh’s brother play a more visible role in the story since he clearly is important to Hugh, and the final few chapters are unquestionably melodramatic, a technique that will likely dismay some readers and delight others. But the epilogue is perfect in a Smythe-Smith book.

Overall, I’d rank The Sum of All Kisses as less satisfying than the first two books in the series. But this is Julia Quinn, and I’m a reader who has read every Julia Quinn book and has never read one that failed to give me enough Quinntessential moments to make me glad I read it. So—not Quinn’s best, but I still recommend it for JQ fans or for other historical romance fans who will enjoy Quinn’s humor with a touch of angst and a generous serving of sensationalism.

Let’s talk autobuy authors. Julia Quinn is on my list and has been since her pre-Bridgerton days. While I certainly like some of her books better than others, I can’t imagine not reading one. Once an author is on my autobuy list, it takes several major missteps for me to remove her/him. Do you have autobuy authors? What makes you delete an author from your list?

Tuesday Review: The Perfect Match

The Perfect Match

By Kristan Higgins

Publisher: Harlequin HQN

Release Date: 

October 29, 2013

Honor Holland, the organized, responsible, got-everything-together middle Holland sister didn’t know it at the time, but her thirty-fifth birthday marked a turning point in her life. First, during her annual exam, her gyn, Dr. Jeremy Lyon, her sister’s gay ex, cautioned her that the optimal age for pregnancy was past, her eggs were aging, and if she wanted children, she needed to consider her options. Honor knows exactly whom she wants to father her children. She and Brogan Cain have been close friends since the fourth grade, Honor has been in love with him since their senior prom, and they have been friends with intermittent benefits since they were freshmen in college. Now he’s a photographer for Sports Illustrated with a glamorous job and high profile friends, but he’s still a nice guy who calls Manningsport home and hangs out with Honor. But when Honor’s attempt at seduction turns into disaster, and her proposal prompts Brogan to call her his best friend and liken her to “an old baseball glove,” she is forced to realize there’s not much hope of her dreams coming true. Six weeks later, the little hope that remains is crushed when Brogan and Honor’s best friend Dana, announce their engagement. The very ring that Honor had picked out as the one Brogan would give her shone triumphantly on Dana’s left hand.  Honor clearly needs a life makeover.

Mechanical engineering professor Tom Barlow needs a green card. Without one, he is going to have to leave the United States and return to England. While that might be the best thing for his career, since his job at tiny Wickham College is on the lower rungs of the academic prestige ladder, it would mean leaving Charlie, the teenage son of Tom’s fiancée Melissa, who was killed in an accident two years ago. Tom has no official claim on Charlie, but he has loved the boy since he was a grinning ten-year-old who loved fishing trips and building model airplanes with Tom. Since his mother’s death, Charlie seems to have turned into a brooding adolescent who hates the world in general and Tom in particular. But Charlie’s attitude doesn’t lessen Tom’s affection or his sense of responsibility for the teen whose maternal grandparents merely tolerate him and whose father is a peripatetic presence in his life. Tom’s aunt reminds him that marriage will solve his green card problem.

Honor and Tom have a rocky start with a blind state, but a spark struck at their second meeting ignites one snowy evening when Tom helps Honor out of an awkward situation. Soon the two are planning a marriage of convenience. Honor moves in with Tom to see if their compatibility extends beyond the bedroom and to create a convincing image for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But love is anything but convenient for Tom who has been badly burned during his engagement, and when Honor fall in love with him, he is terrified. When spring comes, Honor is planning a wedding, but it’s not hers. Will she and Tom ever find the HEA they deserve?

This is the second book in Higgins’s Blue Heron series, and while this one doesn’t quite reach the so-amazing-I-want-to-reread-it-immediately level of The Best Man, it is still a terrific book with all of Higgins’s trademark humor, believable contemporary relationships, family interactions, and puppy love. Honor is an endearing heroine, supremely confident of herself professionally but vulnerable and insecure when it comes to romance. Because she has been in love with Brogan for half her life and has never really considered what her life would be without him, her lack of confidence is credible. I loved the makeover scene, especially when the males join the ladies.

Tom may be my favorite Higgins hero ever. He’s a professor, he has a British accent, he loves his unofficial stepson, and he has a killer sense of humor. All these things make him irresistible from my point of view, which is fortunate since that makes it easier to forgive him when he acts like a jerk later. He redeems himself beautifully, and, without moving into spoiler territory, I’ll just say that I cheered Higgins for the timing of his reversal. I would have been so disappointed if she had gone for the cliché.

I am not a member of the Anti-epilogue League. My cynicism quotient is too low. I’m a fan of aww moments, sweet but not saccharine, that leave me with a smile and a tear and all the loose ends tied up in a bright, celebratory bow. So Higgins’s epilogue rates an A+ from me. The plus is because Charlie got a happy ending too.

I fell in love with the Holland family in the first book, and it was lovely to see Faith and Levi exchanging quips and hot looks, Pru still looking for ways to keep the spice in her long marriage, and Goggy and Pops bickering with undiminished energy. I loved the secondary romance, and brother Jack looks more interesting in this one. Colleen O'Rourke’s story is next in Waiting for You, a reunion romance scheduled for release on March 25. But I hope to see more of Jack, and there’s Colleen’s twin and co-tavern owner Connor too. Pru’s kids are both interesting characters too, and then there is Levi’s old friend Jessica. I’ll be happy to see this series continue through several more books.

If you are a Higgins fan, I promise The Perfect Match will be one of your favorites. If you have never read Kristan Higgins, you are missing one of the best authors writing contemporary romance. The Perfect Match can be read as a standalone, and I definitely recommend it. Honestly, my grin won’t be too smug when I hear you are glomming her backlist.

I know when I pick up a Kristan Higgins book that I am going to experience some character-driven, laugh-out-loud moments that leave me chuckling as I recall them for days afterward. Who tops your list for genuinely funny contemporary romance?

Falling into New Books: September-December

I have been so caught up with Christmas books that I forgot I never posted the final list of books I’ll be reading in 2013, or have read, as is the case for many on the first half of the list. Remember my usual qualification: this is not a comprehensive list of romances being published. You can find a month-by-month list of all new releases in romance fiction at The Romance Dish, Heroes & Heartbreakers, and All about Romance. My list, which I post three times during the year, is strictly personal. It includes books by autobuy authors, additions to series I’m reading, and books by new authors I want to try because a friend has recommended them or because they look interesting. Most of the books on the list are romances, but there are also a few mysteries, women’s fiction novels, and general fiction novels. I have linked the books I have already reviewed to my reviews here, at The Romance Dish, or at Heroes & Heartbreakers.

SEPTEMBER

September 3

Gabriel (Lonely Lords #5), Grace Burrowes

Blue by You (enovella), Rachel Gibson

The Sweetheart Bargain (Sweetheart Sisters #1), Shirley Jump

When Adam Came to Town (HSR), Kate Kelly

Flirting with Fortune (Sealed with a Kiss #3), Erin Knightley

Delectable (Big Sky Pie #1), Adrianne Lee

Love in Plain Sight (DiLeo Family #2 HSR), Jeanie London

Her Favorite Rival (HSR), Sarah Mayberry

Having the Cowboy’s Baby (Blue Falls, Texas #2, HAR), Trish Milburn

It Takes Two to Tangle (Matchmaker Trilogy #1), Theresa Romain

A Perfect Distraction, Anna Sugden

September 10

The Untamed Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures 5.5, enovella) Jennifer Ashley

The Wrong Girl (Jane Ryland #2), Hank Phillippi Ryan

September 17

The Burning Sky (Elemental Trilogy, #1, YA), Sherry Thomas

September 21

Texas Danger (Texas Heroes: The Marshalls #3), Jean Brashear

September 24

Size 12 Is the New Black (Heather Wells #5), Meg Cabot

Run to You (Lovett, Texas #4), Rachel Gibson

The Counterfeit Mistress (Fairbourne Quartet #3), Madeline Hunter

Christmas on 4th Street (Fool’s Gold #14), Susan Mallery

The Trouble with Christmas, Debbie Mason

Summer Is for Lovers (Scotland series #2), Jennifer McQuiston

Always on My Mind (Lucky Harbor #8), Jill Shalvis

Butterfly Cove (Summer Island #3), Christina Skye

A Seaside Christmas (Chesapeake Shores #10), Sherryl Woods

OCTOBER

October 1

The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #6), Jennifer Ashley

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage (Secret Brides #3), Valerie Bowman

Promise Me Tomorrow (Lord Strand #1; first reissue in fifteen years), Connie Brockway

Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait (The Duke’s Daughters #5, Windham Family #8), Grace Burrowes

Big Sky Christmas (Coffee Creek #4, HAR), C. J. Carmichael

The Lady in Red (Mad Passions #2), Maire Claremont

A Lady’s Secret Weapon (Nexus #3), Tracy Devlyn

For the First Time (HSR), Stephanie Doyle

One Hot Scot (Scandalous Highlander .5, enovella), Suzanne Enoch

A Family for Christmas (Texas Grooms #3, LIH), Winnie Griggs

Ghost Gone Wild (Bailey Ruth #4), Carolyn Hart

His for Christmas (House of Trent 1.5, enovella), Jennifer Haymore

Plaid Tidings (Spirit of the Highlands #1), Mia Marlowe

Not Another Wedding (HSR), Jennifer McKenzie

In the Heart of the Highlander (Ladies Unlaced #2), Maggie Robinson

Season for Scandal (Seasons #3), Theresa Romain

The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake #2), Juliana Stone

His Brown-Eyed Girl (HSR), Liz Talley

October 8

The Scandal Before Christmas (Reckless Brides 3.5), Elizabeth Essex

Starry Night, Debbie Macomber

October 14

What Not to Bare, Megan Frampton

October 15

Behind the Shattered Glass (Lady Emily #8), Tasha Alexander

Christmas Bliss (Southern #4), Mary Kay Andrews

Duke of Midnight (Maiden Lane #6), Elizabeth Hoyt

Through the Smoke, Brenda Novak

Christmas at the Beach (enovella), Wendy Wax

October 22

Duck the Halls (Meg Langslow #16), Donna Andrews

Up to the Challenge (Anchor Island #2), Terri Osburn

A Sprinkling of Christmas Magic (HH anthology), Elizabeth Rolls, Bronwyn Scott, Margaret McPhee

October 29

Autumn in the Vineyard (St. Helena Vineyard #3), Marina Adair

It Happened Under the Mistletoe (Secret Brides 3.5, enovella), Valerie Bowman

In Love with a Wicked Man, Liz Carlyle

One Night with the Laird (Scottish Brides #2), Nicola Cornick

Once a Rake (Drake’s Rake #4), Eileen Dreyer

When the Marquess Met His Match (An American Heiress in London #1), Laura Leee Guhrke

The Once and Future Duchess (Royal Entourage #4), Sophia Nash

Take Me Home For Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5), Brenda Novak

Wild Child, Molly O’Keefe

The Sum of All Kisses (Smythe-Smith #3), Julia Quinn

Barefoot by the Sea (Barefoot Bay #4), Roxanne St. Claire

Christmas in Snowflake Canyon (Hope’s Crossing #6), RaeAnne Thayne

Candlelight Christmas (Lakeshore Chronicles #10), Susan Wiggs

NOVEMBER

November 1

Midsummer Night (Lady Julia Gray enovella), Deanna Raybourn

A Cowboy in Her Stocking (Blue Falls, Texas #2.5, enovella), Trish Milburn

November 4

Rogue Spy (Spymaster #5), Joanna Bourne

One Perfect Christmas (enovella), Stefanie Sloane

November 5

Adventures in Parenthood (HSR), Dawn Atkins

Better Than Gold (The Legend of Bailey’s Cove #1, HSR), Mary Brady

Gareth (Lonely Lords #6), Grace Burrowes

Morgan and Archer (Windham enovella), Grace Burrowes

A Small Town Thanksgiving (Forever, Texas #7, HAR), Marie Ferrarella

Bringing Maddie Home (Mysteries of Angel Butte #1), Janice Kay Johnson

Moonlight Kiss (Cricket Creek #5), LuAnn McLane

Miracle Road (Eternity Springs #7), Emily March

The Moment of Truth (Shelter Valley #13, HSR), Tara Taylor Quinn

The Christmas Wedding Quilt (anthology), Emilie Richards, Janice Kay Johnson, Sarah Mayberry

Dark Witch (Cousins O'Dwyer #1), Nora Roberts

Christmas on Main Street (anthology), JoAnn Ross, Susan Donovan, LuAnn McLane, Alexis Morgan

Rumor Has It (Animal Magnetism #4), Jill Shalvis

Through the Evil Days (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyle #8), Julia Spencer-Fleming

Promise Me Texas (Whispering Mountain #7), Jodi Thomas

The Luckiest Lady in London (London Trilogy #1), Sherry Thomas

The Trouble with Princesses (Princess Brides #3), Tracey Anne Warren

November 12

Have You Any Rogues?  (Rhymes with Love 3.5, enovella), Elizabeth Boyle

November 15

The Pickle Queen (Crossroads Café: The MacBrides #2, enovella), Deborah Smith

November 18

Twice the Temptation (Temptresses #1, enovel), Beverly Kendall

November 19

Recovery (Gold Family, enovella), Michael Baron

A Slight Change of Plan, Dee Ernst

Sugarplum Homecoming (Whisper Falls, LI), Linda Goodnight

The Rogue’s Proposal (House of Trent #2), Jennifer Haymore

Last Chance Knit & Stitch (Last Chance #6), Hope Ramsay

A Cold Creek Christmas Surprise (Cold Creek #12), RaeAnne Thayne

November 26

The Devil Wears Kilts (Scandalous Highlanders #1), Suzanne Enoch

Lost in a Royal Kiss (Royal Renegades .5, enovella), Vanessa Kelly

A Change of Heart (Perfect, Indiana #3), Barbara Longley

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished (Rules for Scoundrels #3), Sarah MacLean

Sin of a Wicked Princess (Sinners #3), Anna Randol

The Supreme Macaroni Company (Valentine #3), Adriana Trigiani

DECEMBER

December 1

No Place for a Dame (Lord Strand #3), Connie Brockway

December 3

Caught Up in You (Shady Grove #3, HSR), Beth Andrews

Kisses She Wrote (enovella), Katharine Ashe

Andrew (Lonely Lords #7), Grace Burrowes

The Cowboy’s Christmas Surprise (Forever, Texas #8, HAR), Marie Ferrarella

Gentlemen Prefer Mischief (Mischief #2), Emily Greenwood)

A Valley Ridge Christmas (Valley Ridge #4, HSR), Holly Jacobs

Delicious (Big Sky Pie #2), Adrianne Lee

Second Chance Christmas (Colorado Cades #1, HAR), Tanya Michaels

The Wife Campaign (Master Matchmakers #2, LIH), Regina Scott

A Christmas to Remember (e-anthology), Jill Shalvis, Kristen Ashley, Hope Ramsay, Molly Cannon, Marilyn Pappano

Saving Grace, Lee Smith

December 31

If Wishes Were Earls (Rhymes with Love #3), Elizabeth Boyle

The Greatest Lover ever (Ministry of Marriage #5), Christina Brooke

The Wicked Widow Meets Her Match (Regency Rogues #7), Stefanie Sloane

Sweetest Mistake (Sweet, Texas #2), Candis Terry

Somebody to Love (Cupid, Texas #3), Lori Wilde

What books top your wish list for the last quarter of 2013?

Tuesday Review: Not Another Wedding

Not Another Wedding

By Jennifer McKenzie

Publisher: Harlequin (Superromance)

Release Date: October 1, 2013

Poppy Sullivan made a rare choice to leave her partner in charge of an event their Vancouver events planning company was responsible for in order to head to her hometown, Naramata, BC, ostensibly to attend the wedding of one of oldest friends. In reality, Poppy hopes to stop the wedding. She’s no anti-Cupid. Even though her own love life is nonexistent at the moment, her parents were high school sweethearts who settled into a happy marriage in the town where they grew up, a pattern her sister and brother-in-law repeated. But Jamie Cartwright has known his bride only two months, and Poppy doesn’t believe a relationship of such short duration is a sound base for a happy marriage. She hopes that if she can just talk to Jamie alone, she can persuade him to stop and think before he jumps into matrimony.

Beck Lefebvre allowed himself to be guilted into serving as his cousin Jamie’s best man, but he’s not happy about it. Not only does he find it difficult to take time away from the family business just as negotiations for the company’s sixth hotel are ongoing, but Beck is skeptical about love, marriage, and happily-ever-afters. His attitude is hardly surprising given the example of his much-married parents, who, to Beck’s dismay, seem to be headed toward their third attempt at being married to each other. Making matters more complicated is his mother’s plan to match him with the younger sister of the bride. The only bright spot in Beck’s situation is his auburn-haired high school girlfriend whom he hasn’t seen in a dozen years.

Poppy can’t believe Beck is flirting with her. She wants nothing to do with this man, a prime example of the one who never called. He apologizes nicely, but a mere apology is not enough to make her forgive the man who disappeared without a word the day after he became her first lover—not even if he is even hotter now than he was then. But when Poppy finds it impossible to catch Jamie alone for a serious conversation, Beck proposes a deal she can’t turn down: he will see that she gets time with Jamie if Poppy will be Beck’s date for the wedding events and save him from his mother’s matchmaking. Soon Beck and Poppy are falling heart over head. Sometimes life offers a second chance at love when you least expect it.

Not Another Wedding combines humor, family dynamics, and some sizzling chemistry into this story about a hero and heroine who are not looking for love when it finds them. I have a soft spot for reunion stories, and this one was a bit different. Poppy and Beck are credible as young, contemporary professionals. Their families provide context and contrast as well with Poppy’s happily married parents with stable lives rooted in Naramata, and Beck’s parents with their varied, troubles past. All of these details make the story more interesting.

I did find Poppy’s determination to interfere in her friend Jamie’s life difficult to understand. But perhaps this is a generational difference since it is a plot point I have observed in a number of contemporary romances over the past year or two. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a quick, fun, easy read, this one is worth checking out.

Would you try to stop a friend’s wedding if you thought the friend was making a mistake?

Note: I responded to Jane’s comment yesterday with an acknowledgement that I remember reading a Superromance with a Canadian setting. Not Another Wedding is actually the second of Jennifer McKenzie books I’ve read, both set in Canada.  That Weekend (January 2013) is the other.