Casee: I’ve been reading Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) by Kristen Ashley for about a week now. I finally was able to really get into it last night as I’ve been traveling for most of this week. It’s quite a change of pace from the Chaos series, but in a good way. I’m really enjoying Lauren as a heroine. She’s very real. She has real problems, attempts to find real solutions, just real like that.
As I’ve been on the road, I’ve been listening to quite a few audiobooks. I finished Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) and Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3) by Ilona Andrews. I’m now about halfway through Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4). I love this series. I love Kate, Curran, Derek. All of them. I even love Saiman. After this I’m going to to take a break and move back to the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs.
Holly: I didn’t have much reading time this week. I’ve been listening to/reading Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews off and on all week and that’s it. I need some serious help in the reading department, y’all. I’m headed for a full on slump and I do.not.want.
Rowena: I thought for sure that I would knock all kinds of books off my TBR pile in the month of March and that just didn’t happen. Send help? Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully, I get my shit together this week and things pick up.
I did read some books though. I finished The Right Swipe (Modern Dating #1) by Alisha Rai and you guys, the hero is SAMOAN!! He’s Samoan just like me and I was super thrilled about that though I didn’t love the book as much as I hoped I would have. Still, it was solid writing and I’m looking forward to reading more in the series. I also finished Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton, which was fantastic. It was emotional and it was intense and I’m so glad that I gave it a chance since it’s not normally the kind of book that I’d read. I’m much more of a fluffy romcom kind of gal but Next Year in Havana is much more intense and I thought it was such a well-written story. I also read You’d be Mine by Erin Hahn and that was a lot more intense than I was expecting. I thought it would be a lot lighter but there was a depth there that I wasn’t expecting but still really enjoyed. So all in all, though I’m not reading as much as I hoped I would, I still had a good reading week.
Right now, I’m reading When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton and that book is just as awesome as Next Year in Havana. I should finish it up today and after that, I’m going to jump into Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews and Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson #7) by Patricia Briggs. Wish me luck!
Giveaway Alert
We are very fortunate here at Book Binge. We have loads and loads of books to read and we want to share the wealth so each week, we’ll be tacking on a Freebie Friday giveaway to our What Are You Reading posts. This week, we’re giving away…
American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 26, 2019
Format: Print
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 368
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Before Meghan and Harry, another American ‘princess’ captured the hand of an English aristocrat. Now, Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.”
On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things.
At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…?
From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence—at any price.
What are you reading this week? Any new favorites or books that drove you crazy? Share!
I’ve heard good things about American Duchess. Will be back later with my reading list.
Holly, as regards your reading slump — did you ever have an opportunity to try Anne Cleeland’s Murder in Thrall which I recommended for you last summer? If not, you might give it a try.
I was reading Carly Phillips Serenity series, then an old Diana Palmer book & now Samantha James His Wocked Promise
Some recent reads here ~
— The Stars Down Under: Sandra McDonald. It was different from the first book in the series but proved to be an intriguing story. I’ll have to see if I can get the third book through inter-library loan.
— Duchess by Deception by Marie Force: this is author Marie Force’s first historical romance. While I enjoy the author’s contemporary romantic suspense Fatal series, I’ll admit that I found this book less satisfying.
— an enjoyable short story, A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark which is available for FREE as part of this large collection Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2016: A Tor.com Original. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MS8EZ9X/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b01ms8ez9x
— started but did not finish three new books; I ultimately decided to reread a favorite. Read Michelle Diener’s Dark Horse and then went on to read Dark Deeds, and Dark Minds.
Flameout by Keri Arthur was thrilling.
I loved Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royal novella Can’t Escape Love. I’m also going retro and reading Elizabeth Doyle’s Brazen Angel.
didn’t like anything about Emma’s Dream by M. Lee Prescott
I’m reading Lorraine Heath’s latest book.
I read three books this week that went directly to my (kindle) keeper shelf:
MY WICKED PRINCE by Molly O’Keefe: royal step-siblings in a (fictional) Nordic kingdom. Beautifully written with a delicious vein of melancholy running through it.
RECKLESS by Sybil Bartel: enforced proximity between a chatty, kind-hearted events planner and a strong, silent, former marine bodyguard. Part of Bartel’s Alpha Bodyguards series—and it helps if you’ve read at least the previous book.
WICKED SIN by Ainsley Booth: more enforced proximity with a bodyguard with a woman who becomes involved with the detective who is protecting her from a stalker. Part of Booth’s Forbidden Bodyguards series, and you really need to read the previous books to get the full arc of the heroine’s story.
Sorry-I got crossed up. The new Sybil Bartel book is RUTHLESS. RECKKESS is the previous book in the series.
The Good Ones by Jenn McKinlay.