Sophie Reads YA: Lana Williams

2022 New Release challenge

ARC Review: If Not for the Duke (The Duke’s Lost Treasures #3) by Lana Williams

12:00

If Not for the Duke
Series: The Duke’s Lost Treasures #3
Author: Lana Williams
Published November 30th 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
Can she keep her secret from the suspicious duke?

While thrilled her older sisters are happily married, Lena Wright doesn’t expect that future for herself. Not when her ability to foresee events causes her such distress. How unfortunate that her intuition places her directly in the path of the grumpiest man in all of London--the Duke of Renwick.

Sterling Dunworth, the Duke of Renwick, learned not to trust others from his father. Lena Wright is intriguing, and he’s grateful to her for befriending his shy sister, but a secret lurks in her beautiful eyes. If only he could remember that after their first kiss.

Lena is dismayed to learn His Grumpiness has launched a search for treasure on Oak Island. But when the famous treasure hunter the duke employs to lead the dig claims instant success, Lena refuses to remain silent.

All Lena wants is to unveil the treasure hunt as a fraud and protect her father’s legacy. She has no desire to hurt Sterling or his sister. Yet with each day that passes, it becomes clear she can’t manage both.

Sterling and Lena aren’t the only ones interested in the supposed treasure on the island, and they must put their love and lives on the line to stop the thief from stealing the most important treasure--the one they’ve found in each other.
Goodreads

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

As the youngest Wright sister, Lena has always followed her older sisters. But now the only one unmarried, she's both relishing and hating the silence. And when her 'gift' of feeling when something is about to go wrong occurs at a garden party, with the Duke of Renwick's sister, Lena finds she is drawn to his family like never before. Sterling Dunworth will do anything for his sister, and that includes buying up the rights to dig on Oak Island. He's wary of Lena and Bernice's friendship, as women have tried to befriend Bernie in the past to get closer to him. Lena seems to actually care about Bernie, though, and it's clear that Sterling is the one who is falling.

I enjoyed the romance in this one perhaps the most, but parts of the plot line weren't as enjoyable as previous books. I did like that we got to see Lena's gift more, and learn about the family connection it has. It allowed Lena to come to terms with it more, and see it as less of a curse, and more of a bonus, particularly when it came to the people she loved. Sterling was a grumpy hero, but one who loved hard, and Lena was no exception. They were both wary at first, and tried to fight the attraction, but it was too much for them, and anyway, they were perfect for each other. A lovely way to tie up the series.

Dates Read:
December 19-20, 2022

Rating
3 Stars

2022 New Release challenge

ARC Review: A Kiss from the Marquess (The Duke’s Lost Treasures #2) by Lana Williams

11:00

A Kiss from the Marquess
Series: The Duke’s Lost Treasures #2
Author: Lana Williams
Published August 4th 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
A reclusive marquess meets a spirited lady and nothing will ever be the same.

Norah Wright is filled with guilt for what happened the day her father died while digging for treasure on Oak Island. Determined his work isn’t forgotten, she finds the perfect museum to display the few artifacts he found. But convincing the absentminded marquess who owns it to agree is a challenge.

Simon Webb, the Marquess of Vanbridge, carefully cultivates the artifacts on display at the Museum of Antiquities. His quiet and reclusive life focused on history helps ease the pain of his youth. He doesn’t fit in with Society, nor does he care to...until Norah barges into his world.

Though her eldest sister wants her to find a husband, Norah seeks adventure after their sheltered upbringing on the small island. She has no intention of marrying until she’s had a chance to truly live.

An unexpected kiss with Norah, who is opposite of him in every way, shocks Simon. She’s strong-willed, has more friends from her brief time in London than he’s made his entire life, and stirs a passion within him that he didn’t realize was possible.

When one of Norah’s father’s artifacts goes missing from Simon’s museum, along with several others, the pair must work together to uncover the thief even as desire burns between them, putting everything they hold dear at risk.
Goodreads

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

Norah wishes she never spoke harshly to her father on the day he died. Trying to atone for it, she wants the Marquess of Vanbridge to open an exhibit at his museum in honour of her late father, but getting him to turn up to any of her meetings is proving to be difficult. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she turns up at Vanbridge's home, and is shocked to see that he is just a shy man, more at home with his own studies rather than in society. Simon is intrigued by the beautiful woman who storms into his study and demands a meeting. Though not interested in pirate treasure himself, he finds himself agreeing to create the perfect exhibit for her father's items, to great success. But when items, including David Wright's coin, go missing, Simon and Norah find themselves involved in a plot which seems too big for them to manage alone, and which may be dangerous.

I like how the theme of the sister's time on Oak Island runs through the series. After Ella and Marbury have married, Norah finds she wants to have something to do, and a museum exhibit is perfect. Vanbridge's museum is the best, but she's angry he keeps forgetting her appointment. When they finally meet, the attraction is instantly there, and I loved that both characters came out of their shells, and were able to be vulnerable to each other, when they've always hidden those parts of themselves. Norah and Simon really were a great couple, made for each other, which was clear throughout the entire book. I hope book 3 explores Lena's 'feelings' a little more, as they were extremely useful here.

Dates Read:
December 18-19, 2022

Rating
3 Stars

2022 New Release challenge

ARC Review: Once Upon a Duke's Wish (The Duke’s Lost Treasures #1) by Lana Williams

10:00

Once Upon a Duke's Wish
Series: The Duke’s Lost Treasures #1
Author: Lana Williams
Published May 17th 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
An earl shadowed by the past meets a lady determined to start anew.

Ella Wright brings her two younger sisters to London after the tragic death of their treasure-hunting father on Oak Island, hoping to secure their futures. But the city presents new challenges, the first of which is convincing their estranged grandfather, the intimidating Duke of Rothwood, to take them in. Then their father’s journal detailing his search for pirate treasure is stolen, and Ella has no idea who to trust.

Leo Stanton, the Earl of Marbury, is alarmed when he hears three ladies claiming to be Rothwood’s granddaughters have arrived in London. Fearing the man who’s been like a grandfather to him is being taken advantage of, he rushes to Rothwood’s side to find three beauties under his roof and their father’s questionable scribbles missing.

Given Leo’s expertise in pirate artifacts, the duke requests his assistance to find the stolen journal. Leo reluctantly agrees, though he thinks Ella’s father was a fool. While he can’t ignore his resentment of past events, one heated kiss with Ella convinces him that more is at stake than a notebook.

Ella knows the pain pursuing a dream can cause, yet her growing attraction for Leo can’t be denied. Dare she trust him in her quest to regain her father’s journal along with her love, or will fate demand payment for the past?
Goodreads

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

After their father died, sisters Ella, Norah, and Lena Wright leave the only home they've ever known, in Nova Scotia, to travel to London. They hope their grandfather, the Duke of Rothwood, will welcome them, after his only daughter - their mother - ran off with their father over twenty years ago. Allowed to live in his home, but not embraced with open arms, the sisters find themselves trying to navigate London society, and when their father's prized journal is stolen, Ella will do anything to get it back. Even if that means working with the Earl of Marbury, and potentially losing her heart in the process.

I was drawn to this book first by the cover, and then the synopsis. And let me tell you, the story inside is even better too. The Wright's have never known their maternal family, and the thought of setting across the ocean to hope their grandfather will take pity on them is hard. And eldest sister, Ella, is taking it all on herself. She knows they need help, and she will do anything to see her sisters settled. Holding tight to her father's prized possessions, she crashes into a handsome man who just turns out to be the son of the man her mother jilted all those years ago. Ella and Leo clash heads almost instantly, but working together to find the journal, and learning more about the other person, and not the persona they put on for others, they quickly fall. I really liked the progression from wariness to love that Ella and Leo went through. The book really shows them falling naturally, and the added mystery of David Wright's journal helped to aide the plot. A great start to the series, and the epilogue was so sweet too!

Dates Read:
December 17-18, 2022

Rating
3 Stars