Fix Her Up/ Tessa Bailey/ 400 pages

           Georgette Castle went into the birthday party clown business instead of her family's home renovation business. Ever since this choice, and because she is the youngest of the siblings, she has been seen as the baby and not part of the adults. She craves respect from her family and creates a plan on how to do so.
           Travis Ford was a major league baseball player for a couple of years until an injury caused him to retire. Now he is back living in his home town trying to get a new job but he doesn't want his reputation standing in the way.
            In order for them both to get what they want they pretend to be in a relationship with each other. The goal to show Georgie's family that she deserves the respect of any other adult and for Travis's potential new bosses to see that he is not the player he use to be and is living a more serious life. However, they did not expect to actually start falling for each other...
             This was a cute fun rom-com that flies by and has you laughing throughout. If you are looking for a cutesy love story, pick this one up!

Once Upon a Tower / Eloisa James 487 p.

Gowan Stoughton of Craigievar, Duke of Kinross values order.  He organizes his trips to London via a longer but better road.  He stables horses at every stop; and, he knows precisely when that stop will be.  He gets daily reports from everyone of his properties (a footman makes a daily journey).  It is logical to have each bedroom in his castle a different color so that everyone knows who is getting the blue room, the red room, etc. When he plans a visit with the Earl of Gilchrist to consult about the banking issues there is a ball and as he is somewhat in need of a wife and heir that he comes to the ball.  There he meets the earl's daughter and is so taken by her that he very shortly proposes marriage.  Little did he know that the true Edie would not appear until she was recovered from her fever.  All he knew is that he was so smitten that he had the marriage ceremony moved up.  What a surprise when they had their first falling out!  He takes himself to a distant estate leaving her alone with loads of self-doubt.  She, too, takes herself away to a nearby tower.  And he doesn't get admittance, that is until he finds himself crawling up the stones to her window much like Rapunzel.  

Once Upon a Tower / Eloisa James 487 p.

Art of Taming a Rake / Nicole Jordan 399 p.

Venetia Stratham enter's a bordello to accost a rake who is courting her sister.  Venetia doesn't want her sister to become the social outcast that she is because of the actions of Quinn Wilde, Earl of Traherne.  As he escorts her to her carriage, after a somewhat sensuous meeting, he is assault by ruffians intent on taking his life.  Venetia enters the fray swinging her reticule.  Once again Venetia finds her name bandied about by the blue stocking crowd, causing Quinn to propose and enter into a hasty marriage.  There is some suspense as Quinn, aided by his family, seek the master behind the attempted murders, yes there are several attempts.  Of course, all ends happily in this very very steamy romance.  Considerable amount of the plot is devoted to the love affair between Venetia and Quinn.

This is the fourth in Jordan's Legendary Lovers series.
Art of Taming a Rake / Nicole Jordan 399 p.

This Duchess of Mine / Eloisa James 384 p.

Wedding bells have hardly stopped clanking after the arranged marriage between Jemma, Duchess of Beaumont and her husband, when she finds him enjoying his mistress in his office as a member of the House of Lords.  She flies to Paris where for nine years she enjoys her life.  When the Duke needs an heir, she returns finding she wants to seduce him.  This two have played signficant roles in the love lives of their friends now comes their story.  Both chess masters, the games begin.

5th in the Desperate duchesses series.
If you like Mary Balogh, try Eloisa James. For the Desperate duchesses series start with Desperate duchesses.
This Duchess of Mine / Eloisa James 384 p.

When the Duke Returns / Eloisa James 384 p.

Lady Isidore was married by proxy as a child.  The years tick by as she waits for her husband to return from the Nile or wherever he is currently exploring.  She successfully fends off amorous men while living the life of not quite a duchesses and not quite a spinster aging on the shelf.  When she puts into action a desperate plan to lure her husband home (see Duchess by Night), she pr finds him ordering her home with him pronto.  He finds a lady very beautiful and with fiery temper that goes off at him, not the docile obedient wife he expected.  Fireworks go off with this couple.

4th in the Desperate duchesses series.
If you like Mary Balogh, try Eloisa James. For the Desperate duchesses series start with Desperate duchesses.
When the Duke Returns / Eloisa James 384 p.

Duchess by Night / Eloisa James 384 p.

Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, has been rusticating in the country, dispensing her version of justice to the people of her county seat.  Widowed two years before when her husband committed suicide, she is ready for a change.  Opportunity is presented when her friend Isadore decides to lure her absent husband home (see When the Duke Returns) by visiting an scandalous house party hosted by Lord Justinian Strange.  Two noble women cannot just go alone, so Harriet becomes Harry, a young mama-protected cousin of Villiers, (see Duke of Her Own). Strange find himself strangely attracted to Harry.  And Harry finds herself attracted to him too.  But with the Harry's male persona, Strange is fighting it.  James is wonderful at weaving in characters from her other books.
3rd in the Desperate duchesses series.
Duchess by Night / Eloisa James 384 p.
If you like Mary Balogh, try Eloisa James. For the Desperate duchesses series start with Desperate duchesses.

Affair before Christmas / Eloisa James 400 p.

Four years after a romantic marriage, Perdita and her husband, the Duke of Fletcher, split.  She moves in with her friend Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont.  Poppy feels Fletch has fallen out of love with her and is turning to a mistress.  She reflects that perhaps the problem may be more with her as her mother pushed her to marry a duke.  She is amazing naive, insecure, with a dominating mother full of idea about marital relations that she never hesitates to proclaim to Poppy.  No wonder Poppy has bedroom trouble.  Fletch realizes he misses Poppy and that he still loves her and is willing to compromise to get Poppy back and his mother-in-law out of his house.


2nd in James' Desperate duchesses series.
Readers of Mary Balogh's historical romances may enjoy these by Eloisa James
Affair before Christmas / Eloisa James 400 p.

Only Enchanting / Mary Balogh 351 p.

In the fourth Survivor's Club Novel series where six men and 1 woman, all bearing wounds from the Napoleonic Wars, forge a true and deep friendship during their recoveries at Penderris Hall.  This is the story of Flavian, Viscount Ponsoby, whose fiancee turned to another, when he came home suffering with a disabling head injury leaving him seemingly violent when his speech was non-existant.  Now that her husband has died, everyone wants to reconnect the two now that Flavian is vastly improved and able to speak.  And speak he does to widow Agnes Keeping, asking for her hand in marriage.  All is not smooth sailing especially when Agnes discovers he married her to pay back his ex-fiancee.  But how the tables have turned, he has too fallen in love with his bride.

Only Enchanting / Mary Balogh 351 p.

Thornbrook Park / Sherri Browning 359 p.

Widow Eve Kendal returns from India to discover that her late husband's investment has gone south.  Her friend, Countess of Averford, invites her to stay at Thornbrook Park while she regroups.  Captain Marcus Thorne, returns from the wars in South Africa, still filled with the rage that drove him away from Thornbrook Park.  Only boxing gives him temporary relief until he sees Eve.  Eve and Marcus' romance is fraught with troubles as his sister-in-law plots to marry him to her sister.  And Eve decides to do the honorable thing and give him up and pursue just what happened to her husband's savings.

Series continued with An Affair Downstairs.
Thornbrook Park / Sherri Browning 359 p.

His Captive Lady / Anne Gracie 323 p.

After 8 years of fighting Napoleon, Harry Morant is plans to go into the breeding race horses.  He directs his aunt to find him a middle-class practical woman.  When he buys an estate, he is drawn to an earl's daughter.  Lady Helen Freymore, Nell, has lived a life surround by lies that have brought her to poverty and scandal.  She trusts no man.  And she has a secret quest that does not involve any man even Harry.  The ridged rules of the regency times, force them into a marriage.  Drawn to Harry, she refuses to share her secret heart's desire.  This secret threatens budding romance.

Those who enjoy Mary Balogh, may enjoy this work.

His Captive Lady / Anne Gracie 323 p.

Simply Love / Mary Balogh 320 p.

Mary Balogh returns to the Miss Martin's School for Girls in this story of love between two very hurt characters, Anne Jewel, a favorite teacher at the school, and Sydnam Butler, quiet war hero.  Anne with her son spends a holiday with the Bedwyn family (their personalities flowing into the story) as Bewcastle consults with his steward Sydnam.  Anne, a victim of  rape and Sydnam, a horribly disfigured war victim, are both accepting of their loneliness.  Both are unable to believe in love.  The matchmaking Bedwyns plot and help surreptitiously when a friendship develops.

Simply Love / Mary Balogh 320 p.

Once Upon a Masquerade / Tamara Hughes 280 p.

Once Upon a Masquerade / Tamara Hughes 280 p.

March, 1883, New York City

Rebecca Bailey just doesn't know where to turn when her father's gambling debts reach a new high. When brutes threaten his life, she and a fellow servant hatch a plan to turn her into a member of high society where is must attract the attention of a rich man. Self-made shipping magnate Christopher Black first spies Rebecca at a masquerade ball where she captivates him. She is so different from his former fiancee. The closer he comes to her secrets, the harder she pushes him away. The plot twists when Christopher's investigation of his best friend's murder leads him straight to Rebecca. Now he has a dilemma, trust the love of his life or expose her as a sinister character.

Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom / Vanessa Kelly 473 p.

Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom / Vanessa Kelly 473 p.

Justine Brightmore, a spy's daughter, is called to take care of an abandoned baby boy left on the steps of Griffin Steele's brothel and she will take care of the baby.   Griffin is the secret, illegitimate son of a Royal prince.  To be saddled with a baby, is quite enough.  Then to protect the baby and his high born nurse, he finds himself married to the baby's nurse.  Romance takes a back seat when the baby becomes a target for kidnappers.

This is the second in the Renegade Royals series.

Promise by Daylight / Alison DeLaine 377 p.

Promise by Daylight / Alison DeLaine 377 p.

The only way Millicent Germain can achieve her dream of being a physician is to masquerade as a man.  After a near fatal accident, the Duke of Winston vows to change his way (it means giving up his decadent lifestyle.)  He hires a personal medic, Miles, to take charge of his convalescence.  Little does he know that the lifestyle he thinks he has put aside, is just a short temptation away in this historical novel.

Perfect Poison / Amanda Quick 352 p. 20th century challenge

Perfect Poison / Amanda Quick 352 p.

While acting as a botanical and poison expert in a murder investigation in Victorian era London, spinster Lucinda Bromley realizes that the poison used came from one of her plants.  She hires Caleb Jones, the investigative member of the Arcane Society and descendant of an alchemist family, to find the murderer and keep her name out of the investigation and out of the press.  She has been thoroughly scandalized in the gossip mongering papers when her fiance is poisoned after drinking tea she poured.  Together, these two paranormals seek the thief who stole the poisonous plant and the brains behind the operation.  Who knew that steamy romance would blossom between the spinster and the dedicated bachelor.

Gone Country/ Lorelei James/394 pages

     Wow.  I didn't know what I was getting into with this one.  I chose it for my kindle because it is difficult for me to find a book and this one was "just returned" so it must be a "good one".  Right?
     The basic story is a rich single father of teenage daughter Sierra moves from Arizona to Wyoming so that she can start over in high school after getting in trouble by shoplifting.  He owns a house and land that has the caretaker who is a single mom of an adult daughter.  Obviously the perfect set-up for a romance novel.  
     Lorelei James leaves Nora Roberts in the dust for extremely steamy scenes.  It starts up way before the middle of the book where most respectable romance novel start getting busy.  Maybe it is because the characters have not dated anyone for 18 to 20 years, but they go at it in practically every chapter until even the author apparently got tired of describing it.
     This book comes with a definite caution.  I looked up the author and this book is part of a series and all her books must be like this.  Even the online catalog does not give a summary, but directs one to the internet to find out more about the books.  On the positive side, the author really cares about her characters and spends a lot of time making up back stories for them.