Tag: Ella Quinn

Guest Review: The Temptation of Lady Serena by Ella Quinn

Posted February 10, 2020 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Temptation of Lady Serena by Ella QuinnReviewer: Tracy
The Temptation of Lady Serena by Ella Quinn
Series: The Marriage Game #3
Also in this series: A Kiss for Lady Mary
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: January 14, 2014
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 356
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
two-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Ella Quinn's bachelors in The Marriage Game series are charming and cunning when it comes to the ways of love--until the right woman captures their unsuspecting hearts. . .

Custom-made gowns. . .nights at the theater. . .and a host of eligible bachelors. Accustomed to living a quiet life in the Scottish Borderlands, Lady Serena Weir has never had any of these luxuries. But when Serena's brother demands she finally have a Season in London, she's thrust into a glamorous world she's only dreamed of. . .

Robert, Viscount Beaumont, remembers all too well what it feels like to be in love. That is why he must keep his distance from Serena. He's only felt his pulse stir the way it does now when he made the mistake of loving the wrong woman once before. Yet the more he strives to resist his feelings, the nearer he is to falling under Serena's seductive spell. . .

Lady Serena gets sent to London from Scotland for a season when she is 26 years old.  Her parents had passed and she’d taken care of the family estate and dependents since she was 14 years old and her brother was off being a soldier.  When he returns with his new wife, the wife gets rid of Serena by sending her off to London.

Serena is not sure how to handle herself as she’s never been in any kind of society.  Luckily she has an aunt and a cousin from her mother’s side of the family who are sponsoring her and getting her ready.  She may not have the social wiles, but her kindness and innocence shine through and make her the talk of the ton.

Robert, Viscount Beaumont, is struck by Serena’s beauty from the moment he sees her.  He had eschewed ton events for years but he now attends as many as possible, just to dance and stare at Serena.  He is charming and soon Serena is in love with him.  He wants her desperately, but has stated that he’ll never love again (after a fiasco when he was a young man).  Robert decides he’ll ask Serena to marry him but before that happens, he compromises her.  Serena is pissed off and says she’ll not marry him because he doesn’t love her.  She then leads him on a chase, but in the end he realizes he loves her.

This would have been a great end to this story and would have happened about 50% of the way through the book.  But no, the book continued on for another 200 pages and gave us another romance, local country children getting kidnapped and the resolution of that, as well as an old bed partner of Robert’s causing trouble.  It was ridiculous.  If we could have just had the story wrap up after Robert told Serena he loved her I probably would have given this book a better rating.  Unfortunately with all of the unnecessary parts that were added into the book, the rating didn’t dip down, it took a huge dive.

I did love Serena in this book.  She was kind, generous and all that was good.  You would think that she would have been over the top, but she wasn’t.  She just knew her business when it came to running an estate, and she wasn’t afraid to tell Robert her thoughts.  Robert was a bit of an ass at first, but he settled down and became a good man.  I was happy for the two of them.

The romance was worth reading in this book but the rest…not so much.  I can’t recommend this one unless you plan on just reading the first half of the book.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Marriage Game

two-stars

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Guest Review: A Kiss for Lady Mary by Ella Quinn

Posted June 10, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: A Kiss for Lady Mary by Ella QuinnReviewer: Tracy
A Kiss for Lady Mary by Ella Quinn
Series: The Marriage Game #6
Also in this series: The Temptation of Lady Serena
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Format: eARC
Genres: Historical Romance
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

 

Handsome, charming, and heir to a powerful Viscount, Christopher “Kit” Featherton is everything a woman could want—except interested in marriage. So when he hears that someone on his estate near the Scottish border is claiming to be his wife, Kit sets off to investigate.

Since her parents’ death, Lady Mary Tolliver has been hounded by her cousin, a fortune-hunting fool after her inheritance. Refusing to settle for anything less than love, Mary escapes to the isolated estate of rakish bachelor, Kit Featherton. Knowing he prefers Court to the country, she believes she will be safe. But when Kit unexpectedly returns, her pretend marriage begins to feel seductively real…

Lady Mary is a quiet, unassuming woman who is being stalked by her cousin, Gawain. Gawain is being prompted by his mother to marry Mary so that he can get her trust fund. Despite attempts by Mary and her brother to contact Gawain’s father, Mary’s uncle, they have been unsuccessful in getting him to explain why he is pushing Gawain on her.

After two years of moving from place to place Mary’s grandmother comes up with a scheme to place her at the home of someone that Gawain doesn’t know so that he can’t find her (why they didn’t place her in some out of the way place before that is beyond me). In order to do this, however, she needs to act like she is married to the man of the house – a Mr. Featherton. Mary knows of a Mr. Featherton but is assured that this particular Featherton is unknown to her. After almost a year by herself Mr. Featherton shows up and is righteously angry that someone would claim to be married to him. Turns out that Mary does know this Mr. Featherton and even had her eye on him during her one and only Season unfortunately he didn’t seem to notice her at all.

Kit Featherton is the epitome of the proper gentleman. He is angry when he finds out that someone is posing as his wife but when he finds out it’s Mary he calms down. He has been looking for her constantly for the past two seasons and has always been enamored with her. He now sees that as so many people believe them married there is nothing to do but marry Mary. Unfortunately Mary is determined to have a Season and to fall in love. She wants the romance, etc. Kit and Mary have misunderstanding after misunderstanding as neither knows how to act around the other. Fortunately fate steps in and the thin veil that had been hiding their feelings finally comes down.

This was a very pleasant book. Mary was kind and giving and Kit was all that was honorable and gentlemanly. Unfortunately that didn’t make for an overly exciting book. While the story was good and well written, it just didn’t make me want to turn page after page. I got frustrated with both the MC’s as they just were so prickly and honor bound with each other. I mean, Kit wouldn’t even think of kissing Mary until they were betrothed. Again, not overly exciting.

Gawain was really in the story peripherally. We read about him several times and his quest to find Mary once he had lost her but other than that he didn’t turn out to be too much of a villain.

There was a secondary love story within the book. It was about a man and a woman who had fallen in love when they were teens but her father had kept them apart. It was a bit complicated with them marrying and then being told it wasn’t legal when it actually was. He also had 2 children he had never seen as he’d left for America. While a sweet story it was a bit odd to be plunked down in the middle of this book. It almost felt like filler as Mary and Kit had already gotten together and got their HEA. Once they declared their love the book should have been over (imho) but we had this extra story to read.

Though the story wasn’t what I typically look for and like in a regency romance novel it was still a decent read.

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars

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Review: The Seduction of Lady Phoebe by Ella Quinn

Posted November 20, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Phoebe Stanhope is not a typical Lady. As feisty as she is quick witted, no one can catch her, especially astride a horse. And unlike her peers, experience has guarded her against a growing list of would-be suitors. But when she encounters Marcus Finley, what she fears most burns deep within in his blue-eyed gaze…

For Lord Finley, the spark of recognition is but a moment in the love he has held these many years. Now that he’s returned to England, all the happiness he desires rests on Lady Phoebe never finding out that he was the one who turned her heart so cold and distant. He must work fast to gain the advantage—to convince her what she wants is exactly what she denies—but in order to seduce her into his arms, he must be willing to give up more than he can control…

When Phoebe was just 15 she was at a house party with her family when she is accosted by the hosts second son. Marcus believes himself in love with Phoebe and wants her to know – especially as he is being banished by his father to the West Indies in a matter of days. He is drunk and miserable but believes that if he tells her of his love that she will hie off to Gretna Green with him. Um, no, she won’t. She is more than disgusted with Marcus when he tries to block her path and grabs her – touching the side of her breast. She isn’t afraid to show him her fist (which gives him a well deserved bloody nose) and her sharp tongue.

Cut to life eight years later and we see Marcus who has been called home by his father because his brother Arthur is dying. Marcus took Phoebe’s words that one day to heart and became a changed man. He is still in love with her and wants nothing more than to court and marry her. Of course Phoebe is a political activist and a much sought after woman and she wants nothing to do with Marcus as his actions that day have haunted her and given her nightmares.

When in London Marcus see’s Phoebe again and they stand transfixed by each other. He is entranced by her and she him but she doesn’t recognize him. After yet another meeting and a few kisses she believes him to be her knight-errant – until she finds out who he is. Marcus tells Phoebe of his love and his desire to wed her and as she sees in him a somewhat changed man she agrees to let him court her. The courting finally comes to a culmination in marriage but there’s another man who wants Phoebe for himself and will stop at nothing to get her – no matter what the cost.

This was a pleasant read. I really liked reading about both Marcus’s and Phoebe’s family.

I found Phoebe to be a little wishy-washy. I know that she had been plagued by her nightmares of Marcus for years – fifteen year olds are definitely impressionable and I’m sure that the events 8 years prior were upsetting but to have nightmares about it for 8 years? Wow, seems a little overboard. She was fearful that he would revert back to his old self but she really dragged things out way too long for my liking. Once she committed though she was all in and I liked that she didn’t hold things against him. She was a pretty good character overall and I did enjoy her for the most part.

Marcus was a good hero but obviously a romantic at heart. He wasn’t a fop but he was really whipped by Phoebe – she kind of walked on him and he allowed it for the most part. Sure she was supposed to be an independent woman but still…IDK, it didn’t really sit well with me. He was devoted, that’s for sure, and he did want to keep his woman safe so that was a plus. He was attentive and committed and I loved that about him.

I’m not sure how I felt about the villain in this book. He was a right bastard and obviously written to be a cruel, heartless man but his part in the book, imho, was unnecessary. The book was drawn out, it seemed, to include his part when it really didn’t further the story along. It almost appeared to be thrown in to add some action. I thought there was enough going on with the romance, their families, the families machinations in getting Phoebe and Marcus together and Arthur’s illness to make a perfectly respectable novel. I’m hoping in subsequent novels we don’t have the villain issue.

Overall a nice read that was entertaining. I’ll be reading more in this series and I’ll let you know about those books as well.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Ella Quinn

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 18, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 0 Comments

Hey there!

Another week has passed and it was not a boring one around Tracyland this time.

First my oldest got sick on Veteran’s Day (last Monday) with a stomach virus and continued to be sick all week long. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone throw up that much in my life. I took her to the doc on Monday (she got sick over the weekend) but had to take her back yet again on Thursday because she was so dehydrated, etc. She’s finally back to her old self – it’s amazing how fast kids bounce back!

Second, on Wednesday night I wasn’t paying attention and ran into the end of a door. No big – sore toe, put ice on it, went to bed. I woke up the next morning with half my foot bruised looking like I had elephantitis. After a visit to the doc (we went to the doc a lot last week!) I found I had a broken toe. Not only that but one that’s in a really odd place and now I’m on crutches for two weeks. When I go back to get an x-ray if it’s not healed properly I’ll have to have a pin put in it. OMG! All this just cuz I was stupid and didn’t pay attention to where I was going! Ug. I have to laugh but it still pisses me off. LOL

Don’t forget I’ve got the Fall in Love With Forever Giveaway going. You can enter the rafflecopter here if you haven’t already. It’s a prize pack of 6 books so check it out.

Alright, on to what I read last week: 

My first read was The Seduction of Lady Phoebe by Ella Quinn. This story was about Marcus who drunkenly makes a move on Phoebe who he thinks he’s in love with, but she gives him a bloody nose and a piece of her mind. Cut to 8 years later and Marcus is back in England and still wants Phoebe. She wants nothing to do with him but she can’t deny her attraction to him. The story is about their courtship and includes a villain, of course. 😉 3.25 out of 5 

Next was a freebie called An Intrepid Trip to Love by Charlie Cochet. The story revolves around Trip. Trip knows that Boone is his mate and has known for 20 years but it’s forbidden to mate with any Enforcer – Boone’s an enforcer. They can’t keep away from each other any longer and soon mate…and the shit hits the fan. This was just an adorable story. I thought it was sweet and funny and I really liked it. 4 out of 5 

Jagged by Kristen Ashley is the 5th book in the Colorado Mountain series. Zara and Ham have an on again off again relationship until Zara calls it quits. Three years later they start up again and this is their story. I’ll post my review of this one on Thursday. 3 out of 5 

Her Wolf by Rebecca Royce has Ashlee who thinks she’s crazy – literally – and Tristan who is a wolf shifter who has a spell put on him and put into a zoo. He starts talking to Ashlee telepathically and she thinks she’s really gone off the deep end. She is really just his mate and rescues him from the zoo. Turns out she’s a shifter too and is introduced to his family but a curse that his family thought was eradicated came back and now Tristan wants to kill Ashlee. This was a good story. It was the first in the Westervelt Wolves series and was a decent read. 3 out of 5 

I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Jessica Scott is a novella about Vic Carponti and his wife Nicole. They are a couple that was introduced in the first book of the Coming Home series. This takes us back in time to 2007 when Vic is getting deployed. He’s been deployed before but this one is different as not only are his friends getting hurt but he is too. The story centers around the deep love that Vic and Nicole have for each other and it was great. 4 out of 5 I’ll post my review this week.

Fall For Me by Sydney Landon starts with Beth announcing to her sister that she’s pregnant. She’s slept with Nick but expects nothing from him as she sees him as a player. She plans to raise the baby by herself. Nick is having none of it and plans to marry Beth. Beth also has severe eating issues. She lost 100 pounds – not the healthy way – and now that she’s pregnant she fears gaining it all back. I understood Beth and her eating disorder but I really didn’t like her and that brought the rating on this book waaaay down even though Nick was pretty darned great. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

Next was A Duchess in the Dark by Kate McKinley. This was a short story about Daphne who is determined to sleep with the man she thinks she’s in love with so that her brother-in-law can’t naysay the engagement. She gets in the wrong bed though and when the duke finds out it’s Daphne he slept with he can’t marry her fast enough – she protests. This was very cute but didn’t have a whole lot of meat to it, being so short. 3 out of 5 

Last for the week was Taming a Wild Scot by Rowan Keats. The story has Ana being saved by Niall from certain death as she’s in a dungeon accused of murder. Months later Niall uses her to try and clear his family name and get their lands back. I thought it was a good medieval story and will post my review of this one soon. This is Keats’s first novel. 4 out of 5

 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
crickets

Happy Reading!

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