Throwback Thursday-The Gift by Julie Garwood

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Crown's Spies #3
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay
373 pages

This book was been on my to read list and then off again over and over. I saw it was at the library in Kindle format and thought, what the heck.

It starts when the hero was fourteen and the heroine was four. The King forced these two children into marriage because he was crazy and was sick of the two families fighting. Kind of like a milder Hatfields and McCoys type of feud. Nathan, the hero, is a Scot and the heroine, Sarah, is English. Her father signed the marriage contract for her since at her age she obviously couldn't sign for herself. These two live seperately for years. Like fourteen years.

Nathan has made himself into a shipping magnate. He was an outlaw pirate for a while also but no more. He's ready to get his wife into his life and pregnant with his heir. Over the years he's never even looked in on her. Has no clue what she looks like. To him it doesn't matter, she's a means to an end. Knock her up and he gets the rest of the gift from the King from their marriage contract.

Sarah has always fancied herself in love with Nathan. At least her idea of him. She has grown up in an abusive household full of human vipers. She's polite but semi reserved. When her aunt becomes a victim of family abuse, she becomes a bit more vocal. She breaks her aunt out of house imprisonment and the two try to flee London. When the man who orders her to let him help, she is skeptical to say the least. She totally flips out when she realizes he's her husband.

This book was very cute. Very funny but I felt like they talked in all caps because they shouted at each other all the time.Truly shouted. The setting of the story mostly takes place on his boat and that is not my favorite thing but I pushed through. I liked the characters and the conclusion to the plot. The love scenes were frequent but not swoon worthy. I know the book was originally published in 1991 so I will give the bland love scenes a pass because of that. I enjoyed it but was expecting something more and better from what some call the legendary Julie Garwood. Undecided if I'd read more from her yet.

How To Handle A Highlander by Mary Wine

       

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Sutherlands #3
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay
352 pages

This is the continuing saga of the Sutherlands. They are an overlord family of Scottish Highlanders. This story Is about Gahan and Moira. Gahan is the illegitimate son of the Sutherland chieftain. He was acknowledged by his father so he could be a semi titled man. After his father recovered from the attempt made on his life by the Frasers, they have been obsessed over safety and watching the Frazers closely. Due to this watching, Gahan notices that Bari Frazer is going to marry off his half sister to the Matheson family. This marriage will bring an army with the Frazers against Gahan's family.

Gahan is instantly drawn to Moira, the bride. Moira's husband is impotent at his advanced age and therefore their marriage is never consummated. The two start an affair and it causes quite the situation. The story is about duty to your clan, family loyalty and revenge.

I'm a big fan of Mary Wine and I get giddy when she releases one of her Highlander books. My problem with this one has to due with the infidelity throughout the story. I know that they thought back then that a marriage wasn't a marriage without consummation but the marriage in this book took place in a Church. This left me uneasy. I absolutely do not like adultery in my historical romances. Despite the fact that the story and love scenes were good, my rating was less because of this. I hope this won't be a continued theme in her following books.

Married for Christmas by Noelle Adams

*Note: So, I have a thing for reading holiday themed stories.  The thing is, I generally lag behind by a month or so.  So, here I review a great story set at... Christmas.  Enjoy! ~Anne

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Marriage of Convenience
Series: Willow Park #1

Published: 12/1/13

Reviewed by Anne

140 ebook pages

Jessica and her best friend Daniel agree to a friendly marriage.  Jessica has had a long time crush on Daniel (unbeknownst to him) and is pretty reserved socially and is despairing of finding someone to start a family with.  Daniel is a pastor who is being considered for the job to lead their small town church, but his unmarried state is a bit of a drawback for the church considering him.  Jessica talks Daniel into this marriage between friends.

So, I was really intrigued by a non-inspy book that featured people for whom religion was a large part of their life - a pastor!  I was lucky enough to get a copy from NetGalley and fired it up on my iPad one night at 11:30.  I was immediately hooked, and very emotionally involved in this book!  I was near tears - and HATE to cry while reading - but I loved it.  So I stayed up until 1:30am finishing the book, despite the fact that I'd be home alone with my four children the next day!  And I don't regret it!

The thing that had me near tears was watching Jessica truly love Daniel.  He loved her back, but it was more of a friendship love, and he seemed to be working hard to keep a boundary between them.  Then they'd have a moment where they truly seemed close, and he'd pull back and distance himself again.  Even though the story is told solely from Jessica's point of view, it seemed clear that he was developing feelings for her.  It wasn't too clear why he was sabotaging those feelings, though!  It was especially painful because his unintentional hurts seemed to pile right on top of some insecurities she was holding onto.

As a character, Daniel was very interesting.  Jessica was almost too perfect.  She was shy and not good at cooking, but, really, who cares?  She was emotionally perfect and a bit of a martyr.  It was believable to me because they were trying to apply logic to a very emotional situation, so I'll give her a pass on being an emotional Mary Sue.

There was a drawback to the single point of view of the book, and that was that some revelations about Daniel's character caught me off guard when I read them.  I really did feel like there was much alluding to them.

Despite these drawbacks, the story really worked for me.  And as the cherry on top of this emo romance, there was really well written explicit sex!  What?  Religious people who have on page sex?  I loved it!  I recommend this book and I'll be watching for more in this series!  (I'm rooting for a book about Daniel's brother, Micah!)

The Scandal Before Christmas by Elizabeth Essex

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Reckless Brides #3.5
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay

Since Ian Worth has to take bride, he asks his superior officer about his situation. See, his older brother has been injured and isn't expected to recover fully. Ian is a Navy man and still active in his commission. His father the Viscount wants him to cancel his commission and marry so he can train him as the heir now. He knows he has to marry but he doesn't want his father's choice for his bride. Ian wants a quiet, unassuming girl. As he tells his superior about this, the man says he has a daughter, who is a spinster, who fits the bill. Ian is very interested. He tells himself that she needs to be pretty enough so he'll have no problem getting her pregnant.

Anne Lesley is the daughter/bride to be in question. She knows that she is plain and not pretty. She sees this possible marriage as her way of escaping her mother's over powering presence. She is very shy and doesn't talk much due to her self ego. After arriving at Ian's house, she overhears him saying hurtful but not unexpected things.

This was an okay read for me. It started off great but honestly, the setting was in the country and I prefer the city. I missed the ton and the shock value of their match it would've caused. Ian was a straight up ass in the beginning but finally redeemed himself. I don't know if I'll go on in the series as the sex scenes were kind of Meh for me.

Highlander Taken by Juliette Miller

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Moderate Kink
Series-Clan Mackenzie #2
Reviewed by Kay

Let me explain the hotness level thing first for this book. Inferno is our hottest rating and for good reason but you generally don't find it in historical romance. At least, not in the historicals I read. I have very specific guidelines for historical romance and erotica has no place there for me. There were multiple sexual situations in this book but no penetrating sex until the end of the book but scenes of non-penetrating sex were explicit as well as some bondage and spanking with a leather strap. That's where the inferno rating comes from.

Kade Mackenzie has to wed for an alliance to strengthen his clan's army and holdings. He is a third son. His oldest brother is widowed and not ready to remarry yet. His second brother was all but betrothed and then met his meant to be bride, so his betrothal to a Morrison daughter had to be broken. In come Kade and Stella Morrison to fill the vacancy spot the broken engagement left. Kade has desired Stella even before he met her because she had a feisty reputation. When he sees her, he falls for her beauty. He accepts the fact they have to get married and looks forward to his marriage bed.

Stella Morrison has been abused by her father or his men physically for years. She looks like her dead mother and her father for some reason takes his grief out on Stella. She doesn't want the marriage but wants to protect her clan. She has heard her husband is a beast, so she is apprehensive to say the least.

I liked this book but not as much as I wanted to. I wanted to love it. It drug a little in the middle for me. Good story telling otherwise. My big problems with it were no full blown sex until the end of the book and in one sex scene he used a leather strap on her. The later is not my cup of tea. Personal preference but I rate based on what I like and I did not like that part. Good voice of the author and she'll probably get better as she goes on.

The Daddy Pact by Kristy K. James

Grade: C
Hotness Level: No Sex
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate

Dan's drug addicted brother has done the unthinkable-he's killed a man just home from his honeymoon.  Dan decides he needs to do whatever he can to try to make things easier for the victim's widow, Jess.  The news that she is pregnant wakes Jess from the haze of depression she's been living in since her husband dies over 3 months ago.  When her ex-father-in-law threatens to take the baby from her, Dan offers to marry Jess (in name only, of course) and adopt the baby.

Once the pair are married, the ex-father-in-law ceases to be a threat.  Then the story becomes about dealing with the guilt.  Dan feels responsible because he had seen his brother shortly before the murder.  Jess feels disloyal to her dead husband because she begins having feelings for Dan.  Can Jess and Dan get past the guilt to build a real marriage?

I am an avid reader of the marriage of convenience plot line, but this one fell a little short of my hopes. Perhaps just a bit too much realism for my escape reading.  Well, that and the lack of sex didn't help either.

A Negotiated Marriage by Noelle Adams

Grade – B

Hotness Level – Blaze

Kink Level – No Kink

Genre – Contemporary

Reviewed by Kate

Three years ago Luke and Molly entered into a marriage of convenience... a sexless marriage of convenience. Luke had a playboy reputation that constantly kept him in the tabloids. A stable marriage would be better for his business. Molly made the mistake of falling in love with someone who didn't return her love. Marrying Luke, who she respected and trusted, was a good way to get back at her ex. Neither Luke nor Molly wanted the complications of emotions in their relationship.

Luke surprises Molly by asking to renegotiate their marriage contract... to include sex. What starts as a weekly commitment quickly turns to more, leaving Molly feeling like she is once again in a one sided relationship.

As both Luke and Molly are comfortable in their marriage, this became a story of two people getting to know each other all over again. I enjoyed this unique approach to a marriage of convenience a lot.

Montana Reunion by Soraya Lane

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Genre-contemporary
Trope-marriage of convenience
Reviewed by Kate

When Maddison discovers her fiancee is gay, she takes a break from her busy Los Angeles life and returns home to Montana. She runs across Jack right away. Jack was her childhood best friend whose father has recently died. In order to inherit the farm, Jack must marry within a year, or contest the will...a long and expensive process. Maddie offers a marriage of convenience. Both agree that their marriage is a good idea, but they disagree about children. Maddie wants kids as soon as possible. Jack refuses to have kids because he worries he will be a terrible father like his own dad. So what happens when Maddie ends up pregnant?

I really liked parts of this book. Jack and Maddie genuinely care about each other and their relationship reflects their prior friendship. The whole kids vs. no kids argument got old fast, though. Maddie decides to marry him knowing there won't be kids, but she continually tries to convince him he would be a great father.

In general, I am a marriage of convenience kind of reader, but this one just didn't do it for me.