Short Story Review: The Duke's Shotgun Wedding by Stacy Reid

Title: The Duke's Shotgun Wedding (A Scandalous Novella)

Author: Stacy Reid
Publication Date: April 14, 2014
Publisher: Entangled: Scandalous
Genre: Adult Historical Romance
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
Source: Publisher

Victorian Era England...

As far as rash decisions went, it was formidable. But Lady Jocelyn Rathbourne's will remained strong. If the only way to save her family's estate and reputation was by aiming a small pistol at the Duke of Calydon, then so be it.

Lady Jocelyn demands satisfaction--and she will have it at any cost. Even if it means demanding the hand of the intense and foreboding Duke himself. But she's made the first move against a very dangerous opponent. Sebastian Thornton is no stripling to be trifled with. The lady has played her hand; now it's his turn.

Sebastian is in need of a wife, and to find a wife with spirit and fire--even if she means to only marry for his money--would be a great prize indeed. He intends to thoroughly take his pleasure with her, and demand his own satisfaction in return...

Jilted woman holds a peer at gunpoint, secures hand in marriage, title, and huge financial settlement in one go: this is just the kind of ludicrous set-up that makes me want to pick up a novella!

The arrogance with which Sebastian deals with the world, conferred upon him by his station as a duke and judgments about women and marriage that he formed long ago, makes him easy to dislike. Jocelyn, meanwhile, is suspect as well--her intentions to marry into money were clearly borne out of desperation, and she makes no secret of this. Again, the common weakness of novellas like these is that they are utterly predictable. From the moment he accepts her unconventional proposal, it's clear they will end up falling in love.

I admired Jocelyn's willingness to risk gossip (and at worst, jail--what if he had called the magistrate down on her instead?) for her family's benefit, as well as Sebastian's endeavors to knock down the walls inside their marriage--though he at first only does this literally. Based on his own parents' cold and disappointing relationship, he had had the walls between the master bedrooms knocked down so that it was a single, huge room (with a single, huge bed!), but he did this without even the real intention of marrying anyone, let alone this brazen hussy who had walked into his life just a day ago.

However obvious the destination is, the journey towards that happy ending is engaging enough. Their sensual wedding night is followed immediately by conflict. I found myself rooting both for stubborn, straight-shooting Jocelyn, as well as for the wounded and cagey Sebastian. The sultriness of their reconciliation makes up for any lack of surprise as to how their relationship is mended.

This was a well-paced, quick read with interesting and sympathetic characters. Stacy Reid gets the Regency voice down pat on her first try and deftly twines sensuous romance into her work. While I definitely wish for a little more complexity to the plot, that is understandably hampered by the short format she writes in. Still, I'll definitely look for further novellas from this author.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Visit the author online at www.stacyreid.com, Facebook and follow her on Twitter @st_reid

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here.

Short Story Review: The Affair by Lily Maxton

Title: The Affair (A Sisters of Scandal Novella)

Author: Lily Maxton
Publication Date: April 14, 2014
Publisher: Entangled: Scandalous
Genre: Adult Historical Romance
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
Source: Publisher

She was his for one week only...

When a beautiful stranger ducks into his bookshop during a rainstorm, Cale Cameron, well-known rake, is instantly attracted to her.

Elizabeth, Lady Thornhill, is restless and hungers for something she cannot name. Society would never accept a countess and a mere bookseller, so they agree to a one week affair to indulge their desire.

As their passion ignites and their connection grows, Elizabeth threatens the one thing Cale has protected above all else—his heart. Letting her go is the only solution...and the one thing he is not prepared to do.

As an avid romance reader, there is something so satisfying about a novella that gets down to business quickly. The Affair is that kind of story. Lily Maxton quickly sets up the scene: a widowed and impoverished countess with nothing to lose who stumbles into a relationship with a completely inappropriate and rakishly handsome self-made man. Elizabeth struggles to reconcile society's values versus her needs; it's not difficult for the reader to figure out that love and lust will win out in the end (bringing financial security with it). As it is with so many novellas, this predictability is The Affair's greatest weakness.

Thrown into the mix is the new Lord Thornhill, her late husband's cousin, who is kind enough in his way and has made enough of a fortune abroad to restore the estate, but fails to incite the kind of passion that Cale can immediately kindle within Elizabeth. After a second brief and steamy encounter, a gift to make any booklover swoon, and a surprisingly pleasant evening spent in unsuitable company, she cannot resist his offer. Just as soon as she begins the affair, it is over.

The way Maxton builds the emotional stakes and just as swiftly knocks them down again is what kept me riveted and will keep me coming back to this novella. While Elizabeth takes some unusual risks (especially given her station and shaky financial situation) she never fully compromises her own integrity, and comes out stronger for it at the end. Cale is at once smoldering and sympathetic--and does it hurt that he owns a lending library, bookshop, and publishing house? In a longer novel, the new Lord Thornhill might have been a true contender, as there is nothing really despicable about him; in novella format, he clearly has no chance. Only the first of Elizabeth and Cale's encounters is fully described, but it was enough for me--definitely quality versus quantity.

Overall, I enjoyed this debut novella. While it doesn't hold any surprises, it delivers the three H's I usually look for in a romance: Heat, Heartbreak, and a Happy Ending. Maxton also sets up a few side characters that I hope she will explore in future novellas: in particular Elizabeth's bookish sister Olivia and the soon-to-be infamous courtesan Miss Forsythe (who is penning a tell-all for Cale's press). I'll definitely watch out for future releases (she has two more novellas coming out this year).

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Visit the author online at www.lilymaxton.com, Facebook and follow her on Twitter @lilymaxton

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here. 

Non-Fiction Review: Skirt a Day Sewing by Nicole Smith

Title: Skirt a Day Sewing 

Author: Nicole Smith
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Genre: Adult Non-Fiction Crafting/Sewing
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Design a skirt for every day of the week! With these 28 irresistible projects, you'll learn all the techniques you need to custom-design and sew fabulous skirts that fit you perfectly. Smith shows you how to draft a pattern for a custom fit and then alter that pattern into one of four basic silhouettes: wrap, straight, flared, and high-waisted. Each skirt can then be easily redesigned into seven distinct and delicious looks -- one for each day of the week. These projects are suitable for sewists at every level, including beginners.

The first three chapters of Skirt a Day Sewing give a pretty good primer on basic sewing tools and techniques. The sections on how to use interfacing, sewing different seams, and how to make a sloper for a custom fit are extremely helpful to me as a novice “sewist”. Most skirt patterns I’ve picked up in the past are the paper patterns where you just pick the one that might be the closest to your measurements, then cut around. With these instructions, you take your own paper (I’ve been using cheap drawing paper which is a bit stiffer than pattern paper--I just happen to have tons of it!) and create a pattern that’s perfect just for you.

The designs are built around 4 basic shapes: wrap, straight, flared, and high-waisted skirts. I rather like the vintage silhouettes on some of the pieces, like the flared Line by Line, and the high-waisted French Toast. Some otherwise cute shapes are dragged down by unnecessarily garish embellishment, such as the appliqué on the Spring-Loaded Wrap Skirt and the exposed zipper on Nip and Tuck. There are also a couple of unfortunate fabric choices, like the clashing colors on the Great Scot Skirt and the weird metallic on Heavy Metal. However, there are enough good designs to get you through at least a week of dressing up for work and play--I’d call that well worth the price of the book. It just takes a bit of imagination on the part of the reader to look beyond the photos.

Although the book advertises a custom fit, at first glance the designs don’t look like they’d be very friendly to bigger ladies. However, I think this is mostly an illusion caused by the skinny models. The sloper should make quite a few of the skirts with unfussy waists, especially the A-line ones, well-suited to apple shapes. There are also a couple of design variations that I can’t wait to try out for my own skirts, like the elasticized back waistband. No more unhooking the waist in the car after dinner!

Beginners will probably find the whole thing daunting without a hand to hold, but those with in-between sewing skills will probably do well with this book. Advanced sewists will probably skip the first three chapters, but I’ve already pored through them at least twice and will probably re-read each section I need when I start sewing. I have actually made a skirt in under 3 hours (though to be fair, I did have a professional sewing teacher on hand for the first two hours) so I do believe the skirt-a-day claim is plausible if the reader is organized and can focus on following the directions.

I’ve purchased quite a few instructional skirt books in the past, but this is the first I’ve ever pre-ordered. I can’t wait to get started on some projects! My favorites are the Block Party, Super Fly, Coney Island, Girlie Show, and Tough Luxe (despite the exposed zipper which I still find odd). I’ll post photos if/when I actually get them done--just in time for our SoCal summer.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Visit the author online at http://www.styleschematic.com/category/blog/

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here. 

Non-Fiction Review: Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ice Cream Sandwiches by Donna Egan

Publication date: 4 June 2013 by Ten Speed Press

ISBN 10/13: 1607744953 | 9781607744955
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Indiebound

Category: Cookbook
Keywords: Dessert, Cookies, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Sandwiches
Format: Hardcover, e-Book
Source: eARC from Netgalley

From Goodreads:

A sweet collection of 50 recipes for ice cream sandwiches from London's popular Buttercup Bake Shop.

Ice cream sandwiches are the perfect treat for both kids and adults, whether you prefer zesty lemon ice cream surrounded by soft ginger cookies or fudgey brownies encasing refreshing mint chocolate–chip ice cream, indulgently dipped in chocolate. Somehow, combining crunchy, buttery cookies with creamy, cold ice cream makes both elements better.

Alethea’s review:

With summer coming up, I was excited to see Ice Cream Sandwiches pop up on Netgalley’s list of available titles. As a diet- and budget-conscious foodie, I’m always interested in cookbooks that teach you how to make yourself something that you would typically buy pre-packaged in a shop--that is, if you’re not lucky enough to live in the vicinity of somewhere like author Donna Egan’s cupcakery, Buttercup--which I’m not. I like the idea of fresh, made-by-hand foods versus eating things with unpronounceable ingredients in the fine print of their wrappers. I imagined this cookbook would hit the spot.

Sadly, for a new book on desserts, Ice Cream Sandwiches doesn’t offer much in the way of the innovative or the unexpected. It also acknowledges that most of the ingredients can be bought and slapped together--so what do we need the cookbook for? I think the disappointment most home cooks are in for is the lack of inspiration.

A couple of the flavors are a little less vanilla--there’s a rosewater cream sandwiched in meringue, a melon sorbet sandwiched in butterfly-shaped vanilla cookies, and fig cream pigs (yum?). Egan ends the book with a few odd beverage recipes: a cola float (apparently young British people don’t know what this is or how to make one?) and a cupshake (where you blend a cupcake into a milkshake, which sounds like a total diet-buster). The only one I really would like to try is the elderflower amaretto, mainly because I’ve never tried a good amaretto cookie recipe, and there is a shop near where I live with a great elderflower sorbet (Paradis in Montrose) so I won’t have to make my own filling.

I do plan to compare store-bought ingredient results with sandwiches made from the cookie recipes in the book, as I suspect some cookies will crumble when combined with something as melty as ice cream. I expect the book’s cookies to hold up. However, with underwhelming photography and just utilitarian recipes, I suspect Ice Cream Sandwiches will see a lot of action at the bookshop and in the library, but it won’t find a home on my cookbook shelf.

If you’d like to try out a recipe, the Lemon Ginger Gems one is posted on the book’s Amazon page.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Visit the the Buttercup Cake Shop online at http://www.buttercupcakeshop.co.uk/, follow @yum_buttercup and like them on Facebook

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here. 

Hidden Paradise - Alternate Review

Hidden Paradise by Janet Mullany

Publication date: 18 September 2012 by Harlequin

ISBN 10/13: 0373777191 | 9780373777198
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

Category: Adult Erotica/Romance
Keywords: Erotica, romance, Jane Austen, historical
Format: Paperback, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Alethea's review: 

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you're probably wondering why we have two reviews for the same book and why we have vastly different opinions of Hidden Paradise. Thuy and I both enjoy romance, whether they are contemporary or historical, vanilla or super-smexy. Luckily, what we can both agree on is that there are lots of different books because there are lots of different readers, and what you enjoy may not always be the same for me--and that's ok!

When I started reading this book, I was immediately reminded of Austenland by Shannon Hale. The characters are play-acting at Georgian splendor, so it's not *quite* a historical. I really didn't enjoy that novel, for the same reason Thuy didn't enjoy this book. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. But somehow, as shallow as she might have thought Louisa, Mac, and the rest of the characters in Hidden Paradise to be, I really felt attached to them and invested in their eventual happiness.

There are several characters telling this story, which I admit can be confusing. I liked switching from one to the other, though--this element of the book gives it a very British TV-miniseries feel. Many of the characters are dealing with disappointment--some crushingly sad problems. There's the widowed Louisa, adrift on a sea of grief; Mac, who is more of a Wickham than a Darcy and is beginning to realize how his life is becoming just what he deserves; and Rob, who is very young but who takes on greater family responsibility when his mother up and leaves his father and siblings. These three main characters turn to others looking for a good time, but come away with something more meaningful.

Don't get me wrong, this book isn't really all about them. It's sometimes about getting off with anything that moves and exposing every taboo. It's about counterpoints between consenting adults who are just in it for fun, those who have zero tolerance for affection, those who are in it only until the going gets rough, and those who find a little more meaning in a new connection beyond a quick shag, and it's the latter that kept me reading. Other erotica books like Captive in the Dark left me numb; The Angel left me apathetic, and Fifty Shades of Grey left me guffawing like a madwoman. Hidden Paradise touched me emotionally (ok, it may have touched a few other places, too), made me cry, and made me smile again.

It also made me want a two-week trip to England and a farm with an unobstructed view of the Rockies, but that's neither here nor there.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Visit the author online at www.janetmullany.com and follow her on Twitter @janet_mullany


*FTC disclosure: I participate in the BookDepository & Amazon affiliate programs. Clicking on the link and making a purchase may result in revenue for this blog. Find our full disclosure policy here.

The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes: Timber Tuesdays (2)

NITE LITE NON-FICTION

Alethea will be highlighting Timber Press books on Tuesdays! Disclaimer: I am not paid for these reviews, though I occasionally get eBook review copies from Netgalley. I just really like their books.

The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr

Publication date: 19 January 2011 by Timber Press

ISBN 10/13: 1604690712 | 9781604690712

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Category: Non-Fiction Crafting

Keywords: Dyes, Plants, Nature, Sustainability

Format: Paperback

Source: Borrowed from the library

Alethea's review:

This handbook covers the methods, materials, and reasons for using natural ingredients instead of artificial chemical dyes to color cotton, wool, and other fibers. I really like the simple recipes and how the author mentions all the different ways you can come by the ingredients and equipment. The book is really well-designed.

Many crafters taking on a new method know that it's usually an expensive process, getting started by purchasing specialized items. The main themes of Duerr's instructions include sustainability and economy, and thus many of the items you need to start a project can come from things you already have around the house, can get cheaply at thrift stores, or even find growing in your garden. The ingredients listed are so many and varied that you can even buy quite a few at the produce section of your grocery store, or pick up plants at the garden center and grow small plants indoors. This is great for suburban apartment dwellers like me.

Duerr's research seems very well-informed and also highlights safety precautions, as on the surface it may seem that because you are using handmade and natural methods and materials, that the process is entirely safe and non-toxic. However, this mainly depends on how informed and responsible the dyer is, and so that is one of the main ideas focused on by the text.

Apart from the great technical advice included in this book, the projects and photos are very inspirational. The book is well-designed and easy to follow. If anything, the reader will be overwhelmed by the myriad of possibilities presented in this book. From upcycling old garments to using up table scraps and yard clippings, Duerr seems to have thought of every possibility.

I especially like the palette that shows off some of the great colors you can achieve through plant dyeing at home. While comprehensive, it is by no means encyclopedic. Reading this book makes me want to go for a walk and find the nearest lawn or park with a dandelion explosion because I can't imagine what the red extraction from dandelion roots looks like. It's not pictured in the book.

This would be a great gift for fans of both art and fashion, as well as nature and chemistry. If I ever plow through my yarn stash I'll probably buy some undyed wool to try this out myself.

By the way, if you love color, check out this great podcast from Radiolab all about colors.

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Find more about the author at sashaduerr.tumblr.com. Check out www.timberpress.com for more awesome books published by Timber Press.

Terrarium Craft: Timber Tuesdays (1)

NITE LITE NON-FICTION

Introducing a new feature! 

From now on, Alethea will be highlighting Timber Press books on Tuesdays.

Terrarium Craft by Amy Bryant Aiello and Kate Bryant

Photographs by Kate Baldwin

Publication date: 11 May 2011 by Timber Press

ISBN 10/13: 1604692340 | 9781604692341

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Indiebound

Category: Non-Fiction Gardening

Keywords: Non-Fiction, gardening, terrariums

Format: Paperback

Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Alethea's Review:

I confess: after downloading the review copy on Netgalley, I placed an order for my own copy straight away. Amy Bryant Aiello owns Artemisia, a store that sells terrarium supplies as well as teaches workshops on how to put them together. Kate Bryant is an author and contributes articles about plants and gardening to publications like Portland Monthly. Together they have created a great beginner's book that includes great inspirations for designs that appeal to a modern aesthetic. It also includes resources and suggestions for finding containers and materials to make your own tiny green wonderlands.

As someone who has tried and failed to keep even the simplest, pre-grown bonsai alive, I have to say terrariums are slightly less intimidating. There's something so accessible about the instructions in this book (though I haven't yet read another upcoming release, Keshiki Bonsai, which might do the same for those tiny trees I dread) that makes me feel like I could try one without disastrous results. 

While the trend is turning up everywhere from newspapers to hipster DIY forums, it's easy for erstwhile newbies to turn a simple project into an expensive eyesore, especially when it involves living things. I highly recommend that if you get this book, you attempt to follow at least a couple of the projects to the letter rather than just getting all creative from the get-go. The book contains great advice to get the chemistry and biology of your terrarium right so you don't end up with goopy plants or worse, like gnats or mold. Ugh!

This book has gorgeous photos and great information. My only criticism would be that some of the spreads don't quite make sense, but it's only two out of fifty that give me this impression, so I still give the book 4 stars out of 5.

To get a feel for what Amy and Kate's projects are like, check out this one they shared with Make magazine. Better yet, win a copy of their book right here! The giveaway is open internationally wherever bookdepository.com delivers. Good luck!

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*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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*FTC disclosure: I participate in the BookDepository & Amazon affiliate programs. Clicking on the link and making a purchase may result in revenue for this blog. Find our full disclosure policy here.

The Understory - Review

The Understory by Elizabeth Leiknes

Publication date: 01 June 2012 by Bancroft Press

ISBN 10/13: 1610880498 | 9781610880497
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Category: Adult Contemporary Romance/Literary Fiction
Keywords: Romance, contemporary, crossover
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Synopsis from Goodreads (edited for length):

Story Easton knows the first line of every book, but never the last.

She never cries, but she fakes it beautifully.

And at night, she escapes from the failure of her own life by breaking into the homes of others, and feeling, for a short while, like a different, better person.

But one night, as an uninvited guest in someone's empty room, she discovers a story sadder than her own: a boy named Cooper Payne, whose dream of visiting the Amazon rainforest and discovering the moonflower from his favorite book, Once Upon a Moonflower, died alongside his father.

For reasons even she doesn't entirely understand, Story decides that she will help Cooper and his mother. She will make his dream come true.

Review:

You will find almost no buzz about this book at all in the mainstream blogging scene. Bancroft is a small independent press, and unfortunately for them and for the author, much of the current book-selling world relies upon appearances--great bookcovers, snazzy websites, spot-on social marketing... Readers have to be able to find you, and then you have to make them want to stay and pay attention to what you want them to learn. The weird graphics you'll find on the publisher's official site (a design throwback to 1998) definitely does not put the best foot forward for this book. The book's cover doesn't make for a great second step, either.

However, those are the only bad things I can say about this book. Really. That's it. Because once I started reading, The Understory's excellently composed prose kept me enthralled until dawn (when I finally fell asleep, exhausted). Readers like me who have trouble nodding off, who worry and fret about our failures into the wee hours of the night, and who constantly land themselves in odd predicaments will feel right at home with Story Easton. Plucky, likable, and somewhat goofy, it is she who binds the rest of the characters together: young Cooper, whose widowed mother is still trapped in the grief of losing her husband; Martin, the author of Cooper's favorite book, debilitated by loss and depression; and Hans, an incorrigible fixer of broken things (and part-time magician, which I guess is kind of the same thing).

The plot enveloped me so completely that I did not put the book down, go to the restroom, or even raid the fridge at 2 am (as I often do); indeed, I may have stopped breathing at some point. The Understory transcends its unimpressive bindings with humor, cleverness, and the uncanny ability to arouse such a tide of emotion, that the reader will overflow with tears and surface with a reawakened sense of hope in humanity. At least, that's the effect it had on me (and sadly, only until the next thing comes along and kills my faith in it again).

Leiknes's deft hand weaves factual information about the rainforest and nature into a stunning tapestry of a story, so intriguing and beautiful as to allow the reader to shrug off his worldly cares and really lose himself in the book. The relationships and entanglements among the characters do not so much form a predictable pattern: instead they reveal a web of interconnectedness among humans and within nature. To break out into a chorus of "The Circle of Life" while reading this book would be to belittle the care and planning the author took in imparting these lessons: be kind, be brave, love and be loved. Leiknes's style is so conversational--not at all preachy or heavy-handed--that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, and highly recommend it to anyone who needs an uplifting, restorative, and thoughtful read.

I looked past an ugly cover and found a rewarding book inside these pages. I hope you will, too.

*note, while I most of the story is appropriate for all ages, there are a couple of passages that require a more mature reader (though to be honest, as a Harlequin reader from age 10, I would have been ok with those scenes--but that's just me). Parents might want to skip over those bits when reading this to a younger audience.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

 

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Follow the author online on Twitter @eleiknes

Love Is in the Air Blog Hop - Giveaway

Look, we can't help it--we love to get books, and we love to give them away!

Today's blog hop is hosted by Under the Covers Book Blog. The hop runs from Feb 7-14, 2012.

If you win, we'll send you the book of your choice from an author who is attending the Passion and Prose  conference in Long Beach, CA. (We are not sure we're going yet, so we can't guarantee it will be signed.) You can choose 1 book, it just has to be one of the 50 awesome authors at Passion and Prose! For more info about the event, visit authorsarerockstars.com.

Click here to find out which authors will be in attendance!

May we suggest the following?





Don't forget to visit all the other awesome blogs on this hop, and enter to win more books on the Hot Books Blog Hop!

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A Tryst with Trouble - Advance Review

A Tryst with Trouble by Alyssa Everett  

Publication date: 1 April 2012 by Dorchester Publishing

ISBN 10/13: 1428516425 | 978-1428516427

Category: Adult Romantic Suspense/Mystery
Keywords: Mystery, suspense, romance, Regency
Format: Paperback (received as an eARC from Netgalley)

Jacket copy:

Dogged for years by painful gossip about his father’s homosexuality, the Marquess of Beningbrough—Ben, to his friends—has protected himself by becoming the ultimate man’s man. Passed over by suitor after suitor in favor of her pretty but vapid younger sister, clever, forthright Lady Barbara Jeffords has reached the disappointing conclusion most men are shallow, boorish clods. 

When a philandering footman turns up dead, the two square off: he’s sure she’s determined to pin the crime on his hapless young cousin, while she thinks he means to shift the blame to her sister. To find the real killer, Ben and Barbara must declare a truce that threatens to expose both their buried insecurities and their growing desire for each other.

Alethea's review:

It's been ages since I read a really satisfying Regency romance. I read a few last year that I don't even count as having read since they were so poorly written and disengaging, I might as well have been leafing through a ten-year-old copy of Cosmo. (Wait, is Cosmo still around?)

A Tryst with Trouble, Alyssa Everett's debut novel, was just what I needed to revive my love for Regency. Ben and Barbara provided everything I look for in a good couple--likeability, chemistry, and conflict. Everett embroils them in mystery, a few improper situations, and just enough comedy to keep it from being a stuffy Historical with a capital H. At first I thought I'd be annoyed by the alternating points of view, but I ended up enjoying it. It's really the author's knack for balancing all the story elements that kept me firmly engaged in this novel.

Here's a bit from Barbara's perpective that made me laugh out loud:

"Do you think my pulse always hammers that way?"
"I don't know." I gulped, afraid to let myself believe I was the cause. "You might have a heart condition."

Everett also throws in a bit of commentary on homosexuality that strikes me as very modern, and that I found very welcome especially against the backdrop of prim and proper English society. It's done well in that not only does it seem plausible, but it also figures slightly in the plot--not enough to be a central issue but shaping and nudging the rest of the puzzle pieces into place.

Oddly enough, the last three Regencies I read were sadly lacking in the department of hot and bothered--sad wastes of a romance novel, in my book. I know they're supposed to be more on the tame side compared to Historicals, but there's a fine line between getting some and getting none at all. Again, Everett manages to balance tension with release--not too much, not too little--just right.

A too-transparent mystery would have ruined this for me, but don't be too quick to decide whodunit. Everett managed to keep me guessing almost up until the end. (It also didn't hurt that my mind cast the actors from the new BBC Sherlock in some of the leading roles--yum!) This is definitely one I will be picking up to re-read, and I'll be looking forward to more entertaining releases from this bright new author!

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Visit the author online at www.alyssaeverett.com and follow her on Twitter @Alyssa_Everett.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.