What I've read this month:
Deception and Desire
Series: MacNaughton Castle Romance #1
Author: Aubrey Wynne
Published June 16th 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: August 1 2020
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
From Duke Till Dawn
Series: The London Underground #1
Author: Eva Leigh
Published July 26th 2018 by Mills & Boon
Read: July 30-August 1 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Lily's Just Fine
Series: Galloway Girls #1
Author: Gill Stewart
Published July 11th 2019 by Sweet Cherry Publishing (ARC)
Read: August 1-3 2020
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, 2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge, ARC August 2020
The Truth About Lord Stoneville
Series: Hellions of Halstead Hall #1
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Published January 19th 2010 by Pocket Books
Read: August 3-5 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Misleading a Duke
Series: The Wallflowers of West Lane #2
Author: A.S. Fenichel
Published September 29th 2020 by Lyrical Press (eARC)
Read: August 1-3 2020
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
The Duke's Guide to Correct Behavior
Series: Dukes Behaving Badly #1
Author: Megan Frampton
Published November 25th 2014 by Avon
Read: August 6 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Counting on a Countess
Series: The London Underground #2
Author: Eva Leigh
Published January 24th 2019 by Mills & Boon
Read: August 6-7 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Dare to Love a Duke
Series: The London Underground #3
Author: Eva Leigh
Published July 25th 2019 by Mills & Boon
Read: August 8-9 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Never Seduce a Scot
Series: The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1
Author: Maya Banks
Published September 25th 2012 by Ballantine Books
Read: August 10-11 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
This Earl of Mine
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #1
Author: Kate Bateman
Published October 29th 2019 by St. Martin's Press
Read: August 10-11 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
To Catch an Earl
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #2
Author: Kate Bateman
Published June 30th 2020 by St. Martin's Press
Read: August 12-13 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge
Highlander Most Wanted
Series: The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #2
Author: Maya Banks
Published March 19th 2013 by Ballantine Books
Read: August 12-14 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Not the Duke's Darling
Series: Greycourt #1
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Published December 18th 2018 by Piatkus
Read: August 13-14 2020
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Majesty
Series: American Royals #2
Author: Katharine McGee
Published September 3rd 2020 by Penguin (eARC)
Read: August 14-15 2020
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, 2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge, ARC August 2020
Gemma's Not Sure
Series: Galloway Girls #2
Author: Gill Stewart
Published May 26th 2020 by Sweet Cherry Publishing (ARC)
Read: August 15-16 2020
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, 2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge, ARC August 2020
One Night in London
Series: The Truth About the Duke #1
Author: Caroline Linden
Published August 30th 2011 by Avon
Read: August 17-19 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
The Princess and the Rogue
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #3
Author: Kate Bateman
Published December 29th 2020 by St. Martin's Paperbacks (eARC)
Read: August 18-19 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
A Rogue of One's Own
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women #2
Author: Evie Dunmore
Published September 1st 2020 by Piatkus (ARC)
Read: August 19-20 2020
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
The Marquess' Daring Wager
Series: The Dukes' Pact #2
Author: Kate Archer
Published September 8th 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: August 21-23 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
Deadly Curious
Series: None
Author: Cindy Anstey
Published June 23rd 2020 by Swoon Reads
Read: August 21-23 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge
The Lady and the Laird
Series: Scottish Brides #1
Author: Nicola Cornick
Published September 6th 2013 by Harlequin Mira
Read: August 25-26 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Bright Raven Skies
Series: Sweet Black Waves #3
Author: Kristina Pérez
Published August 25th 2020 by Imprint (eARC)
Read: August 24-27 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
Always the Bluestocking
Series: Never the Bride #6
Author: Emily E.K. Murdoch
Published September 10th 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: August 28 2020
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
Blame It on Bath
Series: The Truth About the Duke #2
Author: Caroline Linden
Published February 28th 2012 by Avon
Read: August 27-28 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
When the Earl Met His Match
Series: Wedded by Scandal #4
Author: Stacy Reid
Published September 14th 2020 by Entangled: Scandalous (eARC)
Read: August 29 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 New Release Challenge, ARC August 2020
The Way to a Duke's Heart
Series: The Truth About the Duke #3
Author: Caroline Linden
Published August 28th 2012 by Avon
Read: August 29-31 2020
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Challenges Update:
2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge: 3 (30 total)
2020 New Release Challenge: 12 (82 total)
2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge: 14 (62 total)
ARC August 2020: 11 (11 total)

August has been a month to try and get through some more of my ARC backlog, and I don't think I've done too badly. Come September 7th, the term starts again, and I'm no longer a NQT so have a full timetable, and it'll likely impact on the amount of reading I can do.

How have you done this month? Let me know below.

The Heart of a Hellion
Series: The Duke's By-Blows #2
Author: Jess Michaels
Published July 14th 2020 by The Passionate Pen LLC

Goodreads Synopsis
The second in USA Today Bestselling Author Jess Michaels' sparkling new series, The Duke's By-Blows.

Selina Oliver has always enjoyed all the pleasures life offers. As one of the infamous Roseford Bastards, why shouldn't she? But Selina has a secret, one that could tear her world apart. She is also the Faceless Fox, a brazen thief who for years has been stealing the finest jewels of the nastiest women of the ton. Now her brother has invited her to a country party where one of the prizes she craves most will also be at her fingertips. How could a wily fox resist this henhouse?

Derrick Huntington has spent a life maintaining control and discipline. From his years in the army to his current place as an investigator for the ton's elite, he never wavers from his duty. Now he and his partner are sent to an exclusive country party with one task: catch the Faceless Fox before they strike again and finally unmask the villain who has been intriguing him for years.

Investigator meet criminal in a wild chase that will involve seduction as distraction, unexpected respect and a love that could change both their lives forever. If only they can survive it.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I will admit that before lock down started, I hadn't really any intention of reviewing historical romance, but those books have been some of the only ones I've wanted to read during this weird time, and I discovered Jess's books. The Love of a Libertine was so enjoyable, that I couldn't wait to have The Heart of a Hellion available. This time, we follow another one of the bastard children of the late Duke of Roseford, Selina Oliver, who is struggling now that her brother, Robert, is wanting to have a bigger role in her life. Selina has a secret - she is in fact the Faceless Fox, a jewel thief who is neigh on invisible, and only steals from women who have been horrendous to others in the past. Now, at a house party hosted by her brother, she is seeking the prized Breston necklace from the awful Lady Winford. With her companion and accomplice, Vale, she has it all planned out, but those plans are scuppered when Derrick Huntington and his friend and colleague, Edward Barber, arrive. They are investigators, on the lookout for the Fox, but under the assumption that the Fox is a man. Selina needs to get close to Derrick to see how much he knows, but soon she falls head over heels, and risks it all. Derrick, as the grandson of an Earl, is somewhat at home with the upper crust in society, but since returning home from war, with injuries, he's eschewed all that, and dove into his investigations. He wants to find the Fox, but every moment he spends with Selina is reawakening part of him he never thought would return, and he can't let himself believe his worst fears that one he is seeking, is in fact that women he loves.

This was a story that hooked you from page one, and wouldn't let go until you knew that Selina and Derrick were happy. Both were fantastic main characters, who's backgrounds were fraught with pain and misery, and were getting themselves together. Neither really believed they were deserving of love, but were more than happy to seek their release and have fun with the other, and it was inevitable that they would fall quickly, and completely. I couldn't help but ship them together, and when the unavoidable angst occurred, and it was revealed Selina was the Fox, I honestly didn't know how Jess would resolve it all! But resolve it she did, and I loved it! I'm even more desperate for more of her work now, and think that The Matter of a Marquess will be Nicholas' story - or at least, I hope it will be!

Dates Read:
June 25-26, 2020

Rating
4 Stars

The Return of the Disappearing Duke
Series: None
Author: Lara Temple
Published August 20th 2020 by Mills & Boon Historical

Goodreads Synopsis
A scarred mercenary…

Or the Disappearing Duke of Greybourne?

Rafe has spent years running from his true identity. He’s a lone wolf, living far from aristocratic England and his violent father. Then unconventional Cleopatra Osbourne requests his protection as she crosses the Egyptian desert. In Cleo he discovers a fellow outcast—and a fierce desire! Cleo must return to London, and here lies Rafe’s dilemma—because following his heart means claiming the title he’s avoided for so long!
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

I recently read another of Lara's books, The Lord's Inconvenient Vow, and loved the way she merged Egyptian history with the Regency Era, so jumped at the chance to review her newest book, The Return of the Disappearing Duke. Now, we follow Rafe and Cleo, as they both have reasons for fleeing Egypt to return home to England. Rafe, as the son of the late Duke of Graybourne, has just inherited his title, but hasn't been back to his estate for over twenty years after escaping his violent father. He doesn't particularly want the title, but wants to help his tenants and family, and hopes that by pretending to be dead, it will force his younger brother to return also, and face his own demons. Cleopatra Osbourne has also recently lost her father, but he was a cheat and a scoundrel, and now the people he has wronged are after her and her brother, Dash. Needing to find Dash, and get them both home before they get caught, she asks for the help of mercenary Rafe Grey, and the two of them soon find their close proximity to be more than just the sparks of excitement, but turning into something more. Will Rafe reveal his true identity, or is the thought of being like his father too much for him?

I hadn't realised at first that this book was about Edge's brother, so when there started to be mentions of Edge, and Jacob, and Sam, and when we saw the couple, I was overjoyed. Rafe was a wonderful hero - scarred on the inside and out from his past - and prickly enough to not let anyone get too close. As soon as he met Cleo, and saw straight through her disguise as 'Patrick', his walls started crumbling, and we saw more and more of the real Rafe. Cleo was so strong and vibrant, and didn't take any problems from anyone. She knew that she was in danger, but wasn't a shy and retiring damsel, but someone who wanted to act, and wouldn't let Rafe do everything for her. Their chemistry was just perfect, and though we knew there would be some angst coming from the reveal of Rafe's identity, I was rooting for them. Definitely a book I enjoyed, and I can't wait to read Lara's next!

Dates Read:
July 20, 2020

Rating
4 Stars

About Lara Temple:
Lara Temple writes strong and sensual Regency romances about complex individuals who give no quarter but do so with plenty of passion. She lives with her husband, two children, and one very fluffy dog and they are all very understanding about her taking over the kitchen table so she can look out over the garden as she writes and dreams up her Happy Ever Afters.
LINKS: Twitter | Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Amazon

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This week, I read: