Much Ado About You / Eloisa James 391 p. Dec. Challenge Gold Rings

Three orphan sisters come to live with their guardian, the Duke of Holbrook. After preparing for young girls, is he surprised to find young ladies!  Tess Essex, the oldest, vows to marry well and quickly so that she can help her sisters find matches.  As all well made plans, things go awry when one of her sisters elopes with a horse-mad young lord.  (The sisters have a rather unusual dowry...a race horse each).  Then Tess's fiance (not a love match) ups and runs away.  That leaves Tess to consider marriage with the sort of man she wants to avoid... a rake.  Her sisters point out that this is a good match, he is rich, he's handsome, and he is here.  Love has a way of winning out.  But it is not a clear straight path.

Uncertain Magic / Laura Kinsale 376 p. Dec. Challenge

Cursed with "the gift" of being able to read others thoughts, Roderica Delamore has given up on love, marriage, and a family of her own.  When she meets Faelan Savigar, the "Devil Earl", she finds his mind closed to her gift. The blissful quiet of his mind convinces her that he is the one for her.  He is an Irish rogue with a huge history of escapades and secrets.  She bribes him to marry her with her money.  She sees a different side of him when he begins big changes for his properties.  He is working to change the way of his tenant farmers.  When the British come to harass all the Irish, Roderica sees her husband heading for prison because of his association with his long time friend who supports a rebellion.  She sees her love begin to grow.  But how about him?

Fast-paced, historical romance, sensual.

December challenge: 5 Gold Rings

Lovers & Dreamers / Nora Roberts 752 p.

Nora Roberts weaves a contemporary romance around the Templeton family.  This very successful hotelier family resides in Monterrey, Calif.  It features siblings Laura and Josh, adopted cousin Kate, and the single housekeeper's daughter, Margo.  Raised like one of the family, Margo seeks acceptance by her mother.  She finds a huge success as a model, living the very high life.  But when she falls, she falls far when her money is gone and she is left with a huge pile of bills.  She is a strong woman yet she has a lot to learn.  And back home, she begins to change.  Kate, orphaned at a young age, finds a path to success as an accountant.  She has always tried to be perfect.  When her world also falls apart, she is unable to take action.  She floats into the business started by Margo and Laura.  And Laura has her trouble too.  Her husband is a cad.  And he turns to others and absconding with all her money and their children's college funds.  Divorced, Laura struggles to pay the bills (she refuses to appeal to her parents).  All three women have a lot to overcome and their roads to romance are rocky.  It is so nice to see characters grow and develop and return.  And to see the warm interaction between the characters.

Big Book Challenge ; December Challenge: 5 Gold Rings

Folly Beach / Dorothea Benton Frank 336 p. American historical novel December Challenge 5 Gold Rings

This is Frank's 9th in her Lowcountry tales.  Cate Cooper returns to her childhood home in Folly Beach, South Carolina.  Her late husband committed suicide leaving her to deal with the fallout of his poor business dealings and leaving her flat-out broke even her wedding ring is a fake.  In Folly, she renews her dreams.  Interspersed with her story is the story of Dorothy Heyward, who with her husband DuBose, turned his novel into the play Porgy. As Cate's new life is revealed, that of the Heyward's and Gershwin in the 30's is also told.  Inspired by living in the "Porgy House", the Heywood home, her play writing dream comes to fruition as she develops a script about Dorothy.   Written with charm, Folly Beach is about a woman, her family, and her dreams as well as a historical novel, incorporating the true story of the Dorothy and DuBose Heyward and George Gershwin right down to the Cunningham piano used.  Now I want to visit the Porgy House and see George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.  And there is a wedding proposal too, not to give too much away.

Folly Beach is near Charleston.  The Porgy House has been restored to the 1930's time frame.  The Cunningham piano used by Gershwin is at the Charleston Museum.

It Happened One Season / Stephanie Laurens/Mary Balogh/Jacquie De'Alessandro/Candice Hern 420 p. Dec. Challenge 5 gold rings

The readers have spoken!  The four authors have the same story line provided and selected by readers.  A handsome war hero returns home from war, weary and seeks solitude; family duty comes into play, and he must find a bride.  The bride is all but on the shelf, not expecting to every marry.  Each author tells a wonderful story of romance between these unlikely characters.  What fun to see where these authors take the story line.   All are sensual even when set in post-Napoleonic War times. Where one is looking for read-alikes, each fit for the other's style, yet each are unique.

December Challenge: 5 Gold Rings

Escape / Mary Balogh / 394 p. Dec. 5 Gold Rings

In Mary Balogh's third book in her Survivor's Club series, Sir Benedict Harper finds a sympathetic friend in Samantha McKay.  Ben has struggled heroically from horrific war wounds that have left him barely able to walk a few feet.  He is drawn to a beautiful widow who has survived her own hell.  When her oppressive in-laws come to force her back under their "protection", she escapes to distant Wales where she has inherited a bit of property.  Sir Benedict, a gentleman to the bone, insists on accompanying her on a journey where they each find healing in sharing their personal hell.  Ben is coming to accept that he will not ever dance.  He still needs to come to grips with finding a replacement for his life's work--soldiering was his dream job.  Samantha desires finding a place to be free.  There is a depth to these characters and to the secondary characters.  The dialogue is a delight to read.  There is a twist in the usual romance plot.  This is just a wonderful read.  It can be read independently of the series.

Cutting Loose/Susan Andersen/379 pgs./December Challenge--Gold Rings

Jane Kaplinski,  Ava Spencer, and Poppy Calloway were school friends. They also became something of  a family to Miss Agnes Wolcott--an eccentric older women who owns a mansion. Years later, upon her death, Miss Wolcott bequeaths the mansion and its holdings to the three friends. Jane's job is to catalog the items in Agnes's mansion in order to create an exhibit for the museum for which she is a junior curator. The mansion is undergoing a major renovation while the cataloging is going on, and this is where the "love" interest takes place. Jane had met Devlin Kavanagh in a bar, and her first impression of him wasn't the best. This is unfortunate since he is integral to the renovation of the mansion. There is attraction between them, but both have family issues. In addition, items begin disappearing from the mansion. Both the thievery and family issues are resolved, leading to a "happy ever after." It's an enjoyable romance, and I look forward to Ava and Poppy's stories!