Author: Vivienne Lorret

Guest Review: How to Forget a Duke by Vivienne Lorret

Posted June 13, 2018 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: How to Forget a Duke by Vivienne LorretReviewer: Tracy
How to Forget a Duke by Vivienne Lorret
Series: Misadventures in Matchmaking #1
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
Format: eARC
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
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three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

The Bourne Matrimonial Agency has one rule: Never fall in love with the client. A simple thing to remember...unless you’re a matchmaker with amnesia.

The Duke of Rydstrom needs a wife. Preferably one with a large fortune and a complete lack of curiosity. The last thing he needs is a meddling matchmaker determined to dig up his dark family secrets.

All Jacinda wants is to find a bride for a duke. How hard could that be? He’s handsome, enigmatic...and hiding something. She’s sure of it. Determined to discover what it is, she travels to his crumbling cliffside estate. Yet, by the time she washes up on his beach, she can no longer remember who she is or why the duke is so familiar to her. All she knows is that his kisses are unforgettable—and she intends to use every skill she can to discover what’s in his heart.

When Miss Bourne can’t remember what brought her to his ancestral home, Rydstrom intends to keep it that way. Yet as the days pass, his true challenge will be safeguarding his secret while resisting this woman who—confound it all—may well be his perfect match.

The Bourne Matrimonial Agency is where the Crispin Montague, the Duke of Rydstrom goes when he decides he needs a wife.  The agency is run by three sisters, Jacinda, Ainsley and Briar Bourne, along with their uncle.  The uncle is the figurehead for the agency as the girls do all the work, but of course that wouldn’t be proper so everyone thinks that the uncle runs it all.

Jacinda is incredibly devoted to finding matches for the subscribers of TBMA and when someone comes in looking for a match she wants all of the information she can get about them so that she can make a perfect match.  When the Duke of Rydstrom enters and states he wants a wife, the sisters are thrilled because finding this man a match will be a feather in their fledgling business’s cap. Unfortunately for Jacinda, the duke isn’t too forthcoming about himself.  This leads Jacinda to believe that she needs to do more digging.  She decides to dress as a maid in his home and investigate him, but she’s caught by the duke himself before she can find out too much.  She does get a clue about something going on in his family home, so she decides to head there.

The duke realizes that the secret he’s trying to keep may be discovered by the nosey Jacinda Bourne so he heads to his family seat to stop her. What he finds is Jacinda, washed up on shore near the village, with amnesia.  The doctor tells him that no one can tell her information about herself because then she might get false memories, so the duke is stuck taking care of Jacinda in his home and trying to keep her and his secret – his illegitimate sister – away from each other.

While Jacinda is in his home the duke sees another side of Jacinda – not just the nosy busy-body he thought her before.  He sees a bright, intelligent, kind woman who is definitely curious, but in a way he can accept.  Jacinda and Crispin actually become friends and their feelings start to grow deeper from there.  Crispin would love to have Jacinda as his wife but his estate is broke and he needs money in order to keep his home up and running and secure a future for his sister. How can he love one woman yet bring himself to marry another?

This was a cute story.  I like the premise of the book and many of the characters.  Unfortunately, I didn’t like Jacinda all that much.  Ok, I disliked her intensely.  She annoyed the hell out of me with her attitude from page one of the book.  She was constantly into things that didn’t concern her and snooping where she shouldn’t – then making excuses for it all.  She improved a tad bit when she had amnesia but she was still annoying even then.

Crispin was a great character as was his sister, Jacinda’s sisters and uncle, the servants and even the villagers.  I liked them all.  Unfortunately because I didn’t like Jacinda I couldn’t fully get into the romance because I wanted Crispin with someone else.

So, while I like the writing and writing style, as well as many of the characters and the premise, this book fell short for me because of the heroine.

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars

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Guest Review: When a Marquess Loves a Woman by Vivienne Lorret

Posted November 16, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

Guest Review: When a Marquess Loves a Woman by Vivienne LorretReviewer: Tracy
When a Marquess Loves a Woman by Vivienne Lorret
Series: Season's Original #3
Also in this series: This Earl is on Fire (Season's Original #2)
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Publication Date: October 4th 2016
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

As a young, penniless gentleman, Maxwell Harwick knew he had little to offer Juliet White—the most beautiful debutante of the season—except his love, and one thoroughly scandalous kiss. But when they were discovered in a compromising position, a nearly ruined Juliet fled into the arms of a rich, older lord... taking Max’s heart with her.

Now a widow, Lady Juliet Granworth intends to use the fortune she inherited from her odious husband to build a new life in London. Five years have passed, but she’s never forgotten Max… or his soul-searing kiss. Yet it’s clear the newly-minted Marquess of Thayne has not forgiven her—after all, the infuriating man can barely stand the sight of her. But Juliet has endured far too much to give up without a fight and if it’s a battle of wills he wants, it’s a battle he’ll get.

He hates her for breaking his heart. She detests him for destroying her future. But beneath all the loathing simmers an intoxicating passion that neither can ignore… and the harder they resist, the harder they will inevitably fall.

Maxwell only has eyes for his friend and neighbor, Juliet.  Unfortunately Juliet only has eyes for Maxwell’s half-brother – a Marquess (different fathers).  When Juliet finds out from Max that his brother is going to marry someone else she takes his comfort in the form of a kiss but they are caught.  He leaves the house that night at her father’s bidding but returns in the morning with a ring and a plan to head to Gretna Green.  When he gets to her house she and her family are gone and she’s off to marry a titled gentleman.  Maxwell is pissed and plans to never forgive her.

Now it’s 6 years later and Juliet’s horrible husband is dead. Max inherited a title from a far off uncle and is now a Marquess. Juliet’s returned to London but Max will stop at nothing to get her out of his city.  Their mothers are friends so they put up a good front but they end up making a bet – whoever can name the season’s original will get to own the house that Juliet grew up in.  If she loses Juliet has to leave London forever.  The playing out of the bet puts Max and Juliet in close proximity of each other and they finally figure out what they thought was hate was actually love.

This is definitely a book that made me feel a varying range of emotions. I really liked Max and my heart hurt for him when he found Juliet and her family gone.  He loved her so much and I just felt so bad for his situation.  Now there is a fine line between never forgiving someone and outright hating them, at least in my opinion.  I guess the years had just let him stew and it had grown out of proportion.  I did like him quite a bit though and was happy that he turned out to be a much better man than he showed us when first seeing Juliet again.

Juliet – oh I felt horrible for her.  She was forced to marry her husband because of her father’s debt and her husband had only wanted her as an object he could possess.  He kept telling her that she wasn’t worth anything but what was on the outside and once that faded he’d throw her away.  Oh man that had to suck for her!  What a jackass.  Luckily for her she didn’t have to experience that (the throwing away) as he died not long after they got married.  I loved the way Lorret had Juliet slowly falling in love with Max and realizing that she always had been in love with him – not his brother.

The end was a bit convoluted but it still made me smile.  I really liked the HEA in this one and was happy to see Max and Juliet finally figure it all out.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Guest Review: This Earl is on Fire by Vivienne Lorret

Posted August 9, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: This Earl is on Fire by Vivienne LorretReviewer: Tracy
This Earl is on Fire (Season's Original #2) by Vivienne Lorret
Series: Season's Original #2
Also in this series: When a Marquess Loves a Woman
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Publication Date: August 2nd 2016
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The sheltered daughter of a country baron, Miss Adeline Pimm comes to London looking for adventure… and finds it in the form of a bloody, unconscious man slumped in the doorway of her family’s rented townhouse. Though his identity is a mystery, Adeline is inexplicably drawn to the handsome, injured man and vows to nurse him back to health.

Liam Cavanaugh, the scandalous Earl of Wolford, is startled when he awakens in an unfamiliar bed, wrapped in bandages that hinder his eyesight, with no memory of why he was beaten half to death. Although he can’t see the witty young woman who tends to his wounds, her alluring voice—and a single stolen kiss from her soft lips—helps & soothe his pain. But when he is fully healed, Liam is not ready to let go of the one woman who stirs his deepest longings.

Liam will do whatever it takes to see Adeline again, even if it means giving up his rakish ways. But his disreputable past is not so easily forgotten and his secrets are far more dangerous than he—or Adeline—ever imagined.

Adeline comes from a long line of Pimm’s that fall in love almost at first site. When she’s only been in London for less than 24 hours and finds a bloody, unconcious man on her doorstep she feels…something when she touches him. He’s been beaten pretty badly so Adeline and her parents take care of the man.

When Liam, the Earl of Wolford, wakes up to find himself in a strange place with strange people, he’s instantly suspicious of their motives. He’s not a trusting man but eventually comes to believe that the Pimm’s are good people. He’s had his head wrapped because of his head injury so he can only hear their voices and he’s instantly soothed whenever Adeline talks to him. He becomes a bit dependent on her, even when his wrap is removed and he sees the beautiful girl for the first time. He’s been hurt in the past by someone who only wanted his money and title and he won’t fall for that again.

Unfortunately even though his stay with the Pimm’s is (relatively) innocent, Adeline’s reputation is a bit sullied. Wolford is a rake and the fact that he was in the Pimm’s house makes people look at Adeline like a loose woman. She is aided by friends of Liam’s and soon all is right. Or is it? Adeline finds herself falling in love with Liam but he doesn’t plan on marrying for another 30 years and she plans to never marry. On top of that there’s still someone after Liam and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.

This was a sweet romance that didn’t have a whole lot of angst. The H/h fell in love pretty quicly but didn’t come forward with their declarations until the end. It was well written and a definitely easy to get into.

Adeline was a good person who had been raised by good parents. Yes, they’d coddled her because she had one leg shorter than the other, an accident at birth, but once she put her foot down and told them she wanted to do for herself, they let her. I really liked her parents a lot and between the three of them they made the book entertaining.

Liam was a rake but we never really saw any of that, which was good. He was pretty incapacitated during the first part of the book so I wasn’t too bothered by not seeing examples of his rakish ways. He really was an intellectual man but had hidden that from people so while the ton thought they knew him so well they truly didn’t know him at all. I loved that he cared so much about Adeline and though the end was completely unconventional I still really liked it.

Overall it was a good romance. I didn’t read the first book in the series and didn’t feel that I needed to in order to read this one – it was a good standalone.

Rating: 3.75/4 out of 5

four-stars

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