What I've read this month:
Unmasked by Her Lover
Series: Season of Scandal #4
Author: Mary Lancaster
January 12th 2021 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: December 31 2020-January 1 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
When He Was Wicked
Series: Bridgertons #6
Author: Julia Quinn
November 2nd 2006 by Piatkus Books
Read: December 31 2020-January 1 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
It's in His Kiss
Series: Bridgertons #7
Author: Julia Quinn
December 7th 2006 by Piatkus Books
Read: January 1-2 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
You Have a Match
Series: None
Author: Emma Lord
January 12th 2021 by Wednesday Books (eARC)
Read: January 2-3 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
On the Way to Wedding
Series: Bridgertons #8
Author: Julia Quinn
July 6th 2006 by Piatkus Books
Read: January 2-3 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
A Waltz With The Outspoken Governess
Series: Dollar Duchesses #1
Author: Catherine Tinley
December 24th 2020 by Mills & Boon Historical (eARC)
Read: January 6 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Lord Holt Takes a Bride
Series: The Mating Habits of Scoundrels #1
Author: Vivienne Lorret
March 31st 2020 by Avon
Read: January 5-7 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
The Rakehell of Roth
Series: Everleigh Sisters #2
Author: Amalie Howard
February 9th 2021 by Entangled: Amara (eARC)
Read: January 9 2021
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Soul of Cinder
Series: Heart of Thorns #3
Author: Bree Barton
January 12th 2021 by Katherine Tegen Books (eARC)
Read: January 9-10 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
My Kind of Earl
Series: The Mating Habits of Scoundrels #2
Author: Vivienne Lorret
September 29th 2020 by Avon
Read: January 8-10 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
To Bargain with a Highland Buccaneer
Series: Heart of a Scot #8
Author: Collette Cameron
July 2nd 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing (eARC)
Read: January 11-12 2021
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Enchantée
Series: Enchantée #1
Author: Gita Trelease
February 21st 2019 by Macmillan Children's Books
Read: January 11-14 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
How to Love a Duke in Ten Days
Series: Devil You Know #1
Author: Kerrigan Byrne
August 27th 2019 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Read: January 15-16 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Hot British Boyfriend
Series: None
Author: Kristy Boyce
February 9th 2021 by HarperTeen (eARC)
Read: January 15-16 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
A Proposal of Marriage
Series: Brazen Brides #4
Author: Cheryl Bolen
October 12th 2020 by Harper & Appleton (eARC)
Read: January 17 2021
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Taming the Rebel
Series: Endless Summer #2
Author: Dawn Klehr
August 14th 2017 by Entangled Publishing, LLC (Crush) (eARC)
Read: January 17 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
All Scot and Bothered
Series: Devil You Know #2
Author: Kerrigan Byrne
September 29th 2020 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Read: January 16-18 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
The Devil in Her Bed
Series: Devil You Know #3
Author: Kerrigan Byrne
March 9th 2021 by St. Martin's Paperbacks (eARC)
Read: January 19 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Pieces of You and Me
Series: None
Author: Erin Fletcher
April 18th 2016 by Entangled: Crush (eARC)
Read: January 19-20 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Beautiful Broken Things
Series: Beautiful Broken Things #1
Author: Sara Barnard
February 25th 2016 by Macmillan Children's Books
Read: January 19-20 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Always the Rebel
Series: Never the Bride #10
Author: Emily E K Murdoch
January 28th 2021 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: January 22 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Get a Clue
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #4
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
January 19th 2021 by Amulet Paperbacks
Read: January 21-23 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Fierce Fragile Hearts
Series: Beautiful Broken Things #2
Author: Sara Barnard
February 7th 2019 by Macmillan Children's Books (eARC)
Read: January 21-23 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
The Code for Love and Heartbreak
Series: None
Author: Jillian Cantor
October 6th 2020 by Inkyard Press
Read: January 23-24 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Hit Me With Your Best Scot
Series: Wild Wicked Highlanders #3
Author: Suzanne Enoch
February 9th 2021 by St. Martin's Press (eARC)
Read: January 24-26 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Goodbye, Perfect
Series: None
Author: Sara Barnard
February 8th 2018 by Macmillan Children's Books (ARC)
Read: January 25-26 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Heiress In Red Silk
Series: A Duke's Heiress #2
Author: Madeline Hunter
April 27th 2021 by Zebra (eARC)
Read: January 27-28 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
Wild Swans
Series: None
Author: Jessica Spotswood
May 3rd 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire (eARC)
Read: January 29 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Izzy + Tristan
Series: None
Author: Shannon Dunlap
March 7th 2019 by Orion Children's Books (ARC)
Read: January 28-30 2021
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
The Earl Returns
Series: Lords of Sussex #1
Author: Lillian Marek
November 5th 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: January 30 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
A Debt of Dishonor
Series: Lords of Sussex #2
Author: Lillian Marek
February 11th 2021 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. (eARC)
Read: January 31 2021
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenge: 2021 New Release Challenge
The Earl Next Door
Series: First Comes Love #1
Author: Amelia Grey
May 28th 2019 by St. Martin's Press
Read: January 30-31 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Challenges Update:
2021 New Release Challenge: 11 (11 total)
2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge: 21 (21 total)

Happy New Year guys! I'm having a decent reading month, especially as we're now under another lockdown, so I'm working from home, and have more time to read. I'm also trying to clear out my NetGalley back log, and am doing okay with that too.

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

The Duke's Guide to Correct Behavior
Series: Dukes Behaving Badly #1
Author: Megan Frampton
Published November 25th 2014 by Avon

Goodreads Synopsis
All of London knows the Duke of Rutherford has position and wealth. They also whisper that he’s dissolute, devilish, and determinedly unwed. So why, everyone is asking, has he hired a governess?

When Miss Lily Russell crosses the threshold of the Duke of Rutherford’s stylish townhouse, she knows she has come face to face with sensual danger. For this is no doting papa. Rather, his behavior is scandalous, and his reputation rightly earned. And his pursuit of her is nearly irresistible—but resist she must for the sake of her pupil.

As for the duke himself, it was bad enough when his unknown child landed on his doorstep. Now Lily, with her unassuming beauty, has aroused his most wicked fantasies—and, shockingly, his desire to change his wanton ways. He’s determined to become worthy of her, and so he asks for her help in correcting his behavior.

But Lily has a secret, one that, if it becomes known, could change everything…
Goodreads

Review
After inheriting his title of Duke of Rutherford, Marcus has lived a life of devilry and wickedness, caring nothing about his new role, but rather his own enjoyment. That all comes to a head when Rose, his illegitimate, 4 year old, daughter, arrives on his doorstep, alone and having recently lost her mother, he knows he needs to change his ways. First things first is hiring a governess, and that's where Miss Lily Russell makes her appearance. She's not actually a trained governess, but as the daughter of an impoverished vicar, she can get through it all, and knows that all Rose really needs is some care and attention for the time being. Both her and Marcus know that they shouldn't be together, not with Lily being in Marcus' employ, but both fall for each other, too hard, and too fast, for it to be anything but inevitable.

This was a book I noticed on my library's ebook service during lockdown, and though I hadn't heard of the author before, the synopsis appealed to me, and it was an enjoyable read one summer morning. I liked, for the most part, the historical aspects of the book, though there were some inaccuracies that annoyed me at first - but then I got used to. The main issue was Lily introducing herself as Miss Lily, rather than Miss Russell, and everyone else going along with it. That being said, I enjoyed Lily as a character, how she didn't back down from her goals and wishes, and was willing to sacrifice herself for those she cared about when the inevitable angst appeared. Marcus was a character who had to grow on me, but the way he changed his wicked ways so quickly when faced with his daughter, and knowing he was the only person she had in the world, was so admirable, and made me understand why Lily fell so hard, so quickly! The ending was perfect, and I love the whole idea of the 'garden' - definitely a worthwhile book!

Dates Read:
August 6, 2020

Rating
4 Stars

Dramas of a Teenage Heiress
Series: Hotel Royale #2
Author: Katy Birchall
Published September 9th 2018 by Egmont

Goodreads Synopsis
A brand new laugh-out-loud series from rising star Katy Birchall, author of the much-loved It Girl series. Perfect for readers of 10+ and fans of Geek Girl, Super Awkward and channel 4's Derry Girls.

1. If anyone was going to be photographed FIRST holding that handbag, it was going to be Fritz.
2. And if it was a little too big for Fritz, then it was going to be ME.
3. And if it wasn't me, then maybe the Queen or Beyoncé or someone.
4. Whoever it was, it was not going to be gossip columnist Nancy Rose . . .

When a scurrilous journalist writes a very mean article about hotel heiress Flick Royale after 'an unfortunate incident' over a handbag designed for her pet daschund Fritz, she is mortified. Especially when it goes viral! She has to find a way to show the world that she's not the spoilt brat she's been made out to be.

But with not enough followers on even Fritz's Instagram account, let alone her own, she needs to find a bigger crowd to tell the real story to. But how?

Find out in this brilliant sequel in the Hotel Royale series.
Goodreads

Review
I enjoyed the first book in this series, so thought to give book 2, Dramas of a Teenage Heiress, a try. This time around, Flick is facing social media nightmares, when a 'popular' vlogger, Nancy Rose, starts to spread negative messages about her, some of which have a bit of truth in them. This leads to Flick being dropped from the exclusive 50 Heirs to Watch list, and she's distraught. Appearing to save the day is her aunt, who brings with her a reality TV show, who want to film a pilot about Flick's life. Pretty much everyone else is against this, but Flick jumps at the chance, and relishes the attention - especially as ex-best friend Ella has infiltrated her friendship group, seems to want to spend all her time with Cal, and may be spreading bad information about Flick to Nancy Rose. Will the TV show be the making of Flick, or is it another bad idea?

Again, this book was enjoyable, but definitely read young - I definitely don't see how it can be compared to Derry Girls, if I'm being honest. Flick isn't as annoying as she had been in the first book, but there were times I was rolling my eyes at her, and neigh on begging her to give her head a shake - especially when the TV show became involved. Here, she became a bit of a diva and really started to alienate her friends, but she did come to her sense later on. The ending of the book was quite ambiguous, and seeing how it was released a few years ago, I don't think there's going to be a third, so I would've like it to be wrapped up a bit more.

Dates Read:

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