Tag: Eva Clancy

Guest Review: Lord Atwood’s Lovers by Eva Clancy

Posted July 7, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Judith’s review of Lord Atwood’s Lovers by Eva Clancy.

To the rest of the ton, Lord and Lady Atwood seem to have the perfect marriage. They wed for love and their marriage bed doesn’t lack for passion—but Imogen is haunted by the memory of her first marriage…while Charles harbors secret thoughts and desires he’s been unable to confess to his wife.

Then Charles’s ex-lover, Alexander Lambert, arrives in town, throwing Charles into a tailspin—and awakening a surprising attraction in Imogen. Now, both have to face the possibility that they may need more than just each other to be truly complete.


This MM/F menage romance is classified as a “spice brief” by the publisher and as such I was not initially of a mind to read it. Short stories are often very good, but I think of so many situations, additional scenes, etc. when I am reading them that I get irritated and then don’t enjoy the story. But this is a historical romance and several reviewers referred to is as a novella which made it just a bit more interesting, so I took a chance. It is one of those stories that starts off with two people who are deeply in love and very happily married. Not the context of a great many Regency historicals. Yet this couple were shocking in their admiration for one another and their joy in one another was genuine. Now I not only like HEA endings, I also like to read about people who find ways to make their relationship work as a happy way of living and so it seemed with these two. But there really was a hitch on the way in the person of a man for whom Lord Atwood had a deep affection and one that had involved him in a gay affair before his marriage.
The potential for disaster is certainly there in the story but it is surprising that Imogen, Lady Atwood, also has her secret, not in a hidden lover, but her fond–let’s be honest, her passionate memories of her first husband and while he isn’t exactly a presence in the marriage bed, those memories continue to bother her to the point that she is worried that their reoccurrence will ultimately sour her present relationship. So both husband and wife have inner conflict, and it is just that impasse that makes this story more than just the narrative of a happy and passionate marriage romp.
All writers and serious lovers of fiction know that it is the crisis that sets the tone in the story. It would appear that these two didn’t really know how to work this out–something was missing for both of them. It is that impasse, that seemingly intractable difficulty within both Lord and Lady Atwood that made this story work for me and kept me moving forward in the story. Another surprise was that as short as this work is, it is surprisingly complete with out a rush to the end or passing over important characteristics of the story in the name of brevity. Thus is was a very entertaining reading experience and as one who likes historical fiction anyway, I was pleased that this brief but delightful novella crossed my desk and I was able to fit it in easily.
We all probably like the weighty and complicated novels as they are the “meat and potatoes” of romance fiction. But a lovely little literary “snack” like this one is a reading delight and brings a bit of relief from the heavy-handed, no matter how much we like it all. So I recommend this as a bit of historical reading that will lighten the day as entertainment when time is short.

I give it a rating of 3.25 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Harlequin Spice Briefs. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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Review: Lord Atwood’s Lovers by Eva Clancy

Posted June 1, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

To the rest of the ton, Lord and Lady Atwood seem to have the perfect marriage. They wed for love and their marriage bed doesn’t lack for passion—but Imogen is haunted by the memory of her first marriage…while Charles harbors secret thoughts and desires he’s been unable to confess to his wife.

Then Charles’s ex-lover, Alexander Lambert, arrives in town, throwing Charles into a tailspin—and awakening a surprising attraction in Imogen. Now, both have to face the possibility that they may need more than just each other to be truly complete…

Lord and Lady Atwood have only been married for 4 months but already they know that they have an unusual relationship. Lord Atwood, Charles, loves his wife dearly but enjoys seeing her fawned over by other men. Since he’s the only one that gets to touch her it makes him hot. They enjoy a highly sexual and very interesting relationship.

Imogen meets a man names Alexander one day and when she finds out that he’s a friend of her husbands she invites him to dinner. Things are a bit strained at dinner between the two men but they manage to end the night on a good note.

Imogen has nightmares about her first marriage and one night after waking from a nightmare she shares her thoughts with Charles. She then gets Charles to share about his friend Alexander and it comes out that the men were once lovers. Rather than being horrified by his confession Imogen is titillated and wants more info. She eventually gets Charles to admit that he still loves Alexander and Imogen suggests something that would have never crossed Charles’s mind – adding Alexander to their bed.

This is a very short read but incredibly hot. I loved that Charles and Imogen loved each other so much but still had a somewhat open relationship. Rather than getting jealous of other men fawning over his wife he actually got off on it. Since it was such a short book we weren’t privy to how they discovered this part of their relationship. It would have been great to know how they came upon that info.

Imogen innocently invited Alexander to dinner just thinking to make her husband happy but instantly knows there’s more going on between the two men than meets the eye. She pushes him for info and he was forthcoming in a way she certainly didn’t expect. Because she was so open-minded and wanted her husband to be happy she was willing to share him with Alexander. When Alexander is added in to the mix it got even hotter.

I really liked the characters in this story and their obvious love for each other. I would have loved a longer story just to get more background but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book in the end. From what I can tell this is Clancy’s first book but I will definitely look to read more of her work in the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Eva Clancy


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What I Read Last Week

Posted May 29, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you all had the day off and enjoyed it! I’ve been reading, watching movies with the kids and doing laundry. Yep, I really know how to live it up. Lol

I did get to go to work every day this past week which was good. My back still hurts but not nearly as bad. Still taking drugs but at least I can live a fairly normal life – yay. 🙂

So on to what I read this past week:

First on the list was Necessity’s Door by Fiona Glass. This is another book in the Riptide Rentboys series. I’ll be posting my review this week.

Next up was A Night Like This by Julia Quinn. The second book in the Smythe-Smith series about Daniel Smythe-Smith and how he fell in love with a Governess. You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5

Tyler by Christianna Spencer was my next read. This was a short about two guys who are on a college road trip and have a discussion about how Aiden feels that Chase is a bit vanilla in the sex department. Aiden heads out to a bar to find a guy (with Chase’s permission) and he meets Tyler. Fun ensues. This was so cute. You definitely have to keep an open mind about the whole situation to truly appreciate it all. 4 out of 5

Next up was Experimental Repeatability by Elinor Gray was a short story about 2 gay men who are best friends. One has had the hots for the other for years but has never acted on it. One night when they’re drunk they…do. I thought this was a really good story. I didn’t actually realize that Eric was gay at first so I was a bit confused by his actions but once I figured that out it all fell into place. 3.75 out of 5

Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh was next and it was a good one! This was Adria and Riaz’s romance but there was quite a bit of Sienna and Hawke as well as other previous characters in the book. The overall story arc continues and ramps things up. I really wanted more of Adria and Riaz who were dealing with some serious issues but I was satisfied in the end. 4.5 out of 5

Ninetten by AJ Mars was the story of Ezra who meets Nick while at an outdoor party in a parking lot. They take off to be alone together and one thing leads to another. Ezra is just nineteen and is a virgin. This story involves a lot of internal thought on Ezra’s part and not a whole lot of dialogue between the two men. I loved that the internal thoughts fit Ezra and his age and didn’t actually seem like an older man was stuck in a nineteen year old’s body. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

Undercover Alliance by Lilly Cain is the story of Sarina who is an humanoid alien and was scarred in a somehow. Her L’inar was damaged and she can no longer reach orgasm. This is an issue as her people use sex as stress relief and without it go insane. She is a warrior and if she can’t fight she WILL go insane. She is instructed to cover a human who is a lawyer working on the treaty between Earth and Sarina’s planet. Someone is after John but that doesn’t stop them from having a little fun in their down time. A good story that was entertaining. 3 out of 5

Lord Atwood’s Lovers by Eva Clancy was the story of Charles and Imogen who have been married for 4 months. They have a very different type of relationship but are totally in love. Charles is still in love with his previous lover though. I’ll review this this week so stay posted.

The Wary Widow by Jerrica Knight-Catania was the story about Chloe who heads to London from Essex to chaperone her cousin in her season. Even though Chloe is only 19 she is a widow. Chloe, unfortunately finds herself falling in love with her cousin’s betrothed, Andrew, and he falls in love with her as well. Parts of this story are so very sweet and a bit heartbreaking but there were others that I just couldn’t go for. Like Andrew and his identical twin Michael trading places to fool the cousin, Elizabeth, so that Andrew can spend time with Chloe. Andrew doesn’t want to break it off with Elizabeth because he doesn’t want to ruin her reputation but will sleep with Chloe. IDK, I was very torn with the story. 3 out of 5

Ambush by Clare London was a very cute short story about the characters from True Colors. Zeke heads to Miles’s office and ambushes him with a little sex. It’s very hot and a great little story. 3.5 out of 5

Angels and Airhead by Anne Brooke was a short about Ricky who has had feelings for his friend Jez for forever but felt that Jez was out of his league and too high class for Ricky. Ricky is visited by his guardian angel and shown that maybe Ricky should look things a little differently. Very short but cute. 3 out of 5

Last for the week was Payback by Clare London – yet another story involving the True Colors characters. Miles is getting a little payback with Zeke for Zeke’s little ambush in his office. Another hot little short that was worth the read. 3.5 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted this week:
A Gentleman Says “I Do” by Amelia Grey
My Lady Rival by Ashley March

Happy Reading!!


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