Scandal Wears Satin

Scandal Wears Satin (2012) (Avon)
Loretta Chase
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: own
Dressmakers: (1) Silk is for Seduction, (2) Scandal Wears Satin

Romance RBC 2014: A Cabin/Road Romance 

The middle Noirot sister, it is said that Sophia ‘Sophy’ Noirot could sell sand to the Bedouins. As adept a dressmaker as her sisters, Sophy’s true talents lie in writing, and she’s depended upon to infiltrate Society’s grand balls and events, to take note of every last detail of who’s wearing what and who danced with whom to write her column for Fox’s Spectacle, the gossip that everyone in London is reading. Marcelline, Sophy and Leonie need to win over more-high-ranking names in society to their shop, in particular, Lady Warford, who just happens to be their greatest enemy after Marcelline married the Duke of Clevedon, the man who was promised to her daughter.

Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

Silk is for Seduction (2012) (Harlequin)
Loretta Chase
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: own
Dressmakers: (1) Silk is for Seduction

Romance RBC 2014: An Eurasian Historical 

Marcelline Noirot is the best modiste in the country – if not the World – London just doesn’t know it yet. With a modest shop on Fleet Street with her two younger sisters, the Noirots are the three daughters of Edward Noirot, of the disreputable branch of one of France’s noble families, and Catherine DeLucey, of England’s Dreadful DeLucey’s who together, cheated and swindled, lied and manipulated their way through whatever life threw at them. Their offspring are only slightly more honest, determined to see their humble dressmaker shop become the biggest and best in town. When they learn that the Duke of Clevedon is soon to be returning from Paris in order to marry, the sisters decide that this is their path to becoming London’s top dressmaker: they must dress the Duchess of Clevedon.

The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann

The Admiral's Bride (1999) (MIRA Books)
Suzanne Brockmann
Grade: A
Genre: romantic suspense / adventure
Sex scenes: mild
Source: second-hand bookshop, Koh Tao
Tall, Dark and Dangerous: ... (7) The Admiral's Bride

Romance RBC 2014: An AAR Top 100 Romance 2000 

Dr Zoe Lange has just been presented with the biggest challenge of her career. A biological warfare specialist, she’s more than familiar with going undercover. What’s different about this mission is that she’ll be assisting Admiral Jake Robinson and they need to recover six canisters of Triple X, a deadly nerve agent that has the power to knock out entire cities. Admiral Jake Robinson is a legend – Zoe owes her very existence to him. Over 20 years ago during the Vietnam War, Jake and his elite team of Navy SEALs undertook missions that no one else dared: rescuing whole camps of prisoners of war from enemy clutches and in particular, a team of men who had been left for dead by their superiors in the depths of the forest, including Zoe’s dad.

Ransom by Julie Garwood

Ransom (1999) (Pocket Books)
Julie Garwood
Grade: A
Genre: medieval romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own
Highlands' Lairds: (1) The Secret, (2) Ransom

Romance RBC 2014: An AAR Top 100 Romance 2007 

At three-years-old, Gillian witnessed her father’s death at the hands of Baron Alford, as her father tries to send Gillian and her older sister Christen to safety with Arianna’s Box, a great treasure belonging to King John. When her father is betrayed, the sisters are torn apart. Years later, Gillian is blackmailed by Baron Alford into finding her sister and the Box so that the power-hungry Baron can gain favour with King John.

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Blue Bloods (2005) (Atom)
Melissa de la Cruz
Grade: B--
Genre: young adult
Source: own
Blue Bloods: (1) Blue Bloods

Young adult RBC 2014: A book with a colour in the title

Fifteen-year-old Schulyer Van Alen boasts one of the most prestigious and blue-blooded names and family trees in Manhattan society, but unfortunately doesn’t have the fortune to match. Practically an orphan after her father died and her mother lapsed into a coma shortly after she was born, Schulyer has been brought up by her maternal grandmother Cordelia, who has never been a particularly loving presence in her life. A social outcast at school, Schulyer is content with the company of her best friend Oliver Hazard-Perry and new student Dylan.

What a Girl Wants by Lindsey Kelk

What a Girl Wants (2014) (Harper)
Lindsey Kelk
Grade: B+
Genre: chick lit
Sex scenes: mild
Source: library
About a Girl: (1) About a Girl, (2) What a Girl Wants

Romance RBC 2014: A book with 'girl/woman' in the title 

Not so very long ago, Tess Brookes had her life turned upside down. Her job at an advertising agency was her life, so when she’s made redundant, she thinks her life is over. This tumultuous period leads to Tess making a host of other bad decisions, including sleeping with her best friend Charlie and impersonating her bitchy housemate Vanessa and taking Vanessa’s place on a photoshoot in Hawaii. It is during this trip that Tess rediscovers her love for photography and realises that she is actually really good at it.

Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas

Private Arrangements (2008) (Bantam Dell)
Sherry Thomas
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: own

Romance RBC 2014: An AAR Top 100 Book 2010 

Lord and Lady Tremaine are considered to have the best marriage in the entire Ton. A love match is considered vulgar, an unhappy marriage even more so, but what the Tremaines have is a courteous marriage. Given that they haven’t spoken or clapped eyes on one another in ten years, there’s been no opportunity for them to disparage the other in front of friends and family, or for servants to witness marital spats. It is only when Gigi petitions Camden for a divorce that he leaves his new home in America and returns to British soil.

Paradise by Judith McNaught

Paradise (1991) (Pocket Books)
Judith McNaught
Grade: A
Genre: contemporary romance / light suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own
Second Opportunities: (1) Paradise, (2) Perfect

Romance RBC 2014: A classic romance

Young Meredith Bancroft should have it all: heiress to the Bancroft & Company empire that is Chicago’s biggest and most loved department store, she’s at the best schools and should have access to everything she desires. But her jealous and controlling father is convinced that Meredith is destined to follow in her lying and cheating mother’s footsteps, and he’s determined to oversee every aspect of her life in order to prevent this, stealing her childhood in the process. It isn’t until Lisa Pontini joins Meredith’s school that she learns what it’s like to have a true friend.

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) (Egmont)
A.A. Milne, illustrated by E.H. Shepard
Grade: A
Genre: children's illustrated fiction / classics
Source: own

Fiction RBC 2014: A book of short stories 

Winnie-the-Pooh, a bear with little brain, lives in the One Hundred Acre wood, surrounded by his friends, Christopher Robin, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl and the eternally grumpy Eeyore. This collection of stories about the world’s favourite bear follows his adventures as he goes hunting for a Woozle, tries to trap a Heffalump, meets Kanga and baby Roo, finds the North Pole and saves the day when Piglet is in need of rescuing.

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic (2014) (Hodder)
Lauren Oliver
Grade: A-
Genre: young adult
Source: bookbridgr

Fiction RBC 2014: A book with a mystery

Panic started in the town of Carp, population 12,000, for two reasons: because it was summer, and because there was nothing else to do. Now, Panic has become an institution. Played by recent high school graduates, participants sign up to compete in literal life-or-death challenges for the chance to win $67,000. People have died and two years ago, a girl was left paralysed from the waist down after her car was tampered with so that she would lose at the last hurdle. Still, Panic goes on.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska (2005) (HarperCollins Children's Books)
John Green
Grade: B
Genre: young adult
Source: own

Young adult RBC 2014: A book set in high school 

When Miles Halter decides to leave his family and public school in Florida and set off for boarding school, he’s not leaving anything terrible important behind. His parents might miss their only child, but he’s got no friends and being a compulsive auto-/biography reader, Miles is compelled to seek out his ‘Great Perhaps’ in the words of François Rabelais. At Culver Creek, Miles find a loyal friend in his roommate Chip, otherwise known as ‘the Colonel’, who insists on giving Miles his own nickname of ‘Pudge.’ Miles is blown away by the sexy, vivacious, funny and self-destructive Alaska Young, who, like the Colonel, adopts Miles and puts him under her wing. Amid school pranks, failing pre-calc and his search for his ‘Great Perhaps, Alaska draws Pudge into her quest to find a way out of her labyrinth of suffering, introducing him to her unique perspectives on life in the process.

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

The Geography of You and Me (2014) (Headline)
Jennifer E. Smith
Grade: B
Genre: young adult
Source: bookbridgr

Young adult RBC 2014: Free square 

When Lucy and Owen meet, they’re stuck in the lift of their apartment building during a blackout that shuts down the whole of New York during high summer. Lucy has lived in New York her whole life, but this is the first time she’s been alone in the city while her twin brothers are at college and her parents have jetted off to Europe on holiday. Owen has just moved in with his father, the building’s new super. They left their house in Pennsylvania to start afresh after Owen’s mum died and he’s fiercely opposed to New York.

True Betrayals by Nora Roberts

True Betrayals (1995) (Jove Books)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A-
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own 
Romance RBC 2014: A book by Nora Roberts

Newly divorced Kelsey Byden has lived a spoiled, pampered life, allowed to indulge her passion for learning and never having to settle with one job for long. All her life, she’s been told that her mother died when she was a baby, and she’s had the loving care of her father, an English Professor at Georgetown University and her stepmother, Candace. Then, Kelsey gets the shock of her life: her mother is alive and well, the owner of Three Willows, a thoroughbred farm in Virginia. The reason for the deception? Naomi was sentenced to prison for murdering her alleged lover.

The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I'm stepping up my game in order to try and complete my three RBC 2014 challenges before the end of the year, as well as review as many as I can, too. I still won't be able to finish it in time, but I'm going to be posting reviews every other day and try.

The Moment Collector (2014) (Hachette Children's Books)
Jodi Lynn Anderson
Grade: C+
Genre: young adult
Source: NetGalley

Young adult RBC 2014: A book you heard about online 

Maggie is the new girl in the tiny town of Gill Creek. Her mother has had to accept a job in town after losing her job in Chicago, and her father gave up his several years ago when he took the decision to home-school her. Now, Maggie is struggling to adapt to life at 208 Water Street, their old, supposedly haunted house. Luckily, she has an instant friend in her closest neighbour Pauline and Liam, the boy who loves her.

Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day (2014) (Egmont)
David Levithan
Grade: A-
Genre: young adult
Source: own

Young adult RBC 2014: A book with an epic love story 

A wakes up in a different body every day – A doesn’t identify with any gender and has become used to his abnormal life. Boy or girl, fat or thin, homosexual or straight, athletic or academic, nasty or nice, A has experienced it all. For the purposes of this review, we’ll refer to A as a male. A closes his eyes at night and know that when morning comes, he will be in another body, ready for another day of pretending to be another stranger.

The King by Tiffany Reisz

The King (2014) (published 25/11/2014 / 5/12/2014) (Harlequin MIRA)
Tiffany Reisz
Grade: A
Genre: erotica
Sex scenes: HOT
Source: NetGalley
The Original Sinners: (prequel) Seven Day Loan, (The Red Years): (1) The Siren, (2) The Angel, (3) The Prince, (4) The Mistress, (The White Years): (5) The Saint, (6) The King 

Romance RBC 2014: A book with a title referencing the peerage 

The year is 1993 and Kingsley Edge is ready to drink himself to death while sleeping with half of Manhattan in the process. The year before, he was shot while working as a spy for the French Foreign Legion and dying from an infection in a hospital in France. He remembers little of his time there, except Søren appearing out of the blue one day after ten years, demanding that the doctors treat and heal Kingsley. Once discharged, Søren is gone but Kingsley has the best part of $30 million dollars in his bank account – blood money from Søren. Now, he lives in a palace in the city that never sleeps and owns a strip club where, behind closed doors, the rich and sexually deviant can give in to their erotic desires.