Loving Lord Ash by Sally MacKenzie

Loving Lord Ash (2014) (Kensington Books)
Sally MacKenzie
Grade: C
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: NetGalley
Duchess of Love: (1) Bedding Lord Ned, (2) Surprising Lord Jack, (3) Loving Lord Ash

Romance Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book with a 'class differences' relationship 

Estranged for the eight years of their marriage, nothing about Kit and Jess’s relationship has ever been normal. They had been childhood friends, but when circumstances force the future Duke of Greycliffe to marry the family groom’s daughter in order to save Jess’s reputation, their relationship has never been the same. As a result of society’s poisonous gossip, Kit thinks that Jess has slept with every male in the county; while Jess believes Kit to have had his fair share of discreet affairs. Kit has finally faced up to the reality that he needs an heir - which requires reuniting and reconciling with his wife who has every reason to hate him for abandoning her. To top it off, his mother is the infamous matchmaker, the Duchess of Love, who considers her eldest son’s unhappy marriage her one failure.

Missing You by Meg Cabot

Missing You (2006) (HarperTempest)

Meg Cabot

Grade: A-

Genre: young adult

Source: own 

Missing: (1) When Lightning Strikes, (2) Code Name Cassandra, (3) Safe House, (4) Sanctuary, (5) Missing You 

Jessica Mastriani is trying to live a normal life. After being hit by lightning when she was sixteen, she developed a power to find missing people that changed her life forever. All Jess wanted to do was find the kids who appeared in the ‘Missing’ ads on the back of milk cartons, but the FBI had other ideas. When she was asked to go to Afghanistan and join the war effort, she couldn’t say no and the experience has left scars that have yet to heal.

Once in a Lifetime by Jill Shalvis

Once in a Lifetime (2014) (Forever, Grand Central)

Jill Shalvis

Grade: C+

Genre: contemporary romance

Sex scenes: hot

Source: NetGalley

Lucky Harbour: (1) Simply Irresistible … (4) Lucky in Love, (5) At Last, (6) Forever and a Day, (7) It Had to be You, (8) Always on my Mind, (9) Once in a Lifetime

Romance Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A contemporary romance

Ben McDaniel is Lucky Harbour’s favourite son. Until five years ago, he was married to Lucky Harbour’s favourite daughter until Hannah was killed in a car crash. After her death, Ben left to tour developing countries, designing and building water systems with the Army Corps of Engineers. He’s now back in Lucky Harbour, surrounded by the people who love him the most, but reluctant to embark on this new stage of his life.

Perfect by Judith McNaught

Perfect (1993) (Pocket Books)
Judith McNaught
Grade: B+
Genre: 'contemporary' romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own

Second Opportunities: (1) Paradise, (2) Perfect 

Actor Zach Benedict’s childhood wasn’t as exciting or torrid as the media makes it out to be, but he doesn’t bother to correct them. Aged seventeen, Zachary Benedict Stanhope III was cut off from the family fortune and thrown onto the streets by his formidable grandmother. Unable to return to school, he hitches a ride to Los Angeles and when he lands his first role as an extra, he doesn’t look back.

Now an award-winning actor and director, Zach’s latest film Destiny is expected to land him yet another trophy. On top of the stress about the film being over-budget and overtime, Zach walks into his hotel room on the penultimate day of shooting to find his two main characters in bed together – that is, his wife in bed with another man. The air on set the next day is electric. Their last scene is a steamy standoff between the lovers and a gun filled with blanks. At the last minute, Zach uses his director’s prerogative to have Tony shoot at Rachel. The blanks aren’t blanks.

Daughter of Camelot by Glynis Cooney

Daughter of Camelot (2013) (Mabon Publishing)
Glynis Cooney
Grade: A-
Genre: young adult / Arthurian legend / fantasy
Source: NetGalley 
YA Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book based on a myth

About to celebrate their fourteenth birthdays, twins Deirdre and Rhys are inseparable. In their superstitious community, twins are a sign of bad luck, but they have learnt to ignore the stares and whispers. Her father has always turned a blind eye at Deirdre’s boyish exploits with her brother and best friend Reece, but that’s about to change. Rhys is to embark on the last stage of his training to become a Knight while Deirdre is to accompany her older sister Nia to learn the finer points of etiquette in being a lady.

Court life is much different to what Deirdre had expected. With news of Lancelot and Guinevere’s betrayal fresh on everybody’s lips, kingdoms are quickly taking sides and it is up to Deirdre and Nia to learn all they can in their family’s pledge to support the High King. Court politics are complicated and for Deirdre, dangerous when she overhears a traitorous conversation that wasn’t intended for her ears. She suddenly finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that she’s determined to topple as part of her bid to thwart Arthur’s destiny …

The MacGregor Grooms by Nora Roberts

The MacGregor Grooms (1998) (Silhouette)

Nora Roberts

Grade: B--

Genre: contemporary romance

Sex scenes: mild

Source: own 

The MacGregors: (1) Playing the Odds ... (10) The MacGregor Grooms 

Daniel MacGregor is no stranger to match-making at his ripe old age. After all, rattling around in his castle in Port Hyannis with his wife Anna, sitting on the fortune he has amassed through the years, what else is a man to do? Not that he would ever admit it out loud, but he’s had a hand in seeing his three children fall in love with and marry the partners he’s chosen and give him scores of grandchildren. Five grandchildren have already married (with his cunning input) but why stop when there’s still more to go?

Deeper by Robin York

Deeper (2014) (Bantam Dell)

Robin York a.k.a. Ruthie Knox

Grade: A+

Genre: New Adult

Sex scenes: hot

Source: NetGalley 

Caroline & West: (1) Deeper, (2) Harder

YA Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book that made you cry

Warning: intentionally crude language ahead. 

Caroline Piasecki was always the good girl: a good daughter to her widower father, a good student planning to follow her father into the law and a good girlfriend of three years to her high-school boyfriend. That is, until she broke up with Nate the summer before she returned to Putnam for her sophomore year in what she thought was an amicable break-up. When her naked pictures are suddenly all over the Internet attached with her name, home town and college, Caroline’s knows her good girl status is lost forever. Instead, she’s a slut, a whore, a dirty bitch who deserves what’s coming to her. That’s what the anonymous messages all echo and what the refrain in her head drums repeatedly like a broken record: she deserved it.

Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard

Mackenzie's Mountain (1988) (Harlequin)

Linda Howard

Grade: A+

Genre: romantic suspense

Sex scenes: hot

Source: own 

Mackenzie Family: (1) Mackenzie's Mountain 

Mary Elizabeth Potter is the new schoolteacher in the tiny town of Ruth, Wyoming and damn good at her job. When she discovers that the school’s brightest pupil dropped out a month before she arrived, she’s determined to find out why and get Joe Mackenzie’s able mind back in the classroom. Blissfully ignorant of the town’s prejudices surrounding the Mackenzie’s Indian heritage and Wolf Mackenzie’s cleared – but no less forgotten – criminal record, Mary marches up the mountain to their home, completely unprepared for what she’s about to find.

When the Rogue Returns by Sabrina Jeffries

When the Rogue Returns (2014) (Pocket Books)

Sabrina Jeffries

Grade: B-

Genre: historical romance

Sex scenes: mild

Source: NetGalley 

Duke's Men: (1) What the Duke Desires, (2) When the Rogue

Returns

Romance Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book with a 'secret baby' 

Ten years ago, love-struck newly-weds Isa and Victor were duped by Isa’s cunning sister and brother-in-law in a series of events that led to a bitter decade of separation. Isa worked in a jewellery shop and is skilled in making imitations. When the Dutch Royal Family’s diamonds go missing, Victor is led to believe that Isa is a common criminal and has fled Amsterdam with her family and the proceeds, leaving him as the prime suspect. In turn, Isa is spun a tale by her sister that Victor played an equally incriminating role and has taken his share of the jewels and abandoned her to make a fresh start.