The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Title: The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1)

Author: Melissa Albert

Publisher: Flat Iron Books 2018

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 359

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Reading Assignment; Share-a-Tea; Seasonal Series - Someone Travels

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away—by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began—and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

I've been waiting for this book to come off hold at the library. I've heard such good things about this volume. A dark fairy tale sounds right up my alley! Thankfully this book delivered on an amazingly creepy story with great characters and full of twists and turns. It took me awhile to move through this book not because it was bad but because I savored every paragraph. For most of the book I was a bit unclear as to whether the events I was reading were real or in some weird dream state. Sounds bad, but I loved it! I loved the questioning and dream-like state that most of the books existed in. Loved it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Title: Little Bee

Author: Chris Cleave

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 2009

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 290

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: TBR Pile; Seasonal Series - Recommendation

We don’t want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn’t. And it’s what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the plot and the characters. It was a fascinating look at refugees. The storyline had some interesting twists and turns. I really liked that the characters were flawed making them much more realistic. But the writing just bugged me. I couldn't really get behind the first person narration. It was just too stifled for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

Title: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls

Author: Lauren Graham

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2016

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 224

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Popsugar - Goodreads Choice Award Winner

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”).

I really really wanted to like this memoir. I enjoyed watching Lauren Graham on both Gilmore Girls and Parenthood. I was looking forward to hearing her fun stories about life in Hollywood. And yet, I just didn't really enjoy this one. I felt that the stories were very meandering. I just kept getting pulled back out of the narrative. Her references and silly asides seemed very dated already. I would hope that care would be taken when adding very time specific references and the ones chosen just weren't that great two years on. Pretty disappointed in this one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Daisy Miller and Washington Square by Henry James

Title: Daisy Miller and Washington Square

Author: Henry James

Publisher: 1878; 1880

Genre: Classics

Pages: 288

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Share-a-Tea; A to Z - W

In Daisy Miller, James paints a vivid portrait of a vibrant young American girl visiting Europe for the first time. Lovely, flirtatious, eager for experience, Daisy meets a wealthy American, Mr. Winterbourne, and a penniless but passionate Italian. Her complex encounters with them and others allow James to explore one of his favorite themes, the effect of Americans and Europeans on each other.

I enjoyed the styled writing of this short novella. However, I can't quite get behind the characters. Daisy is very much like another Daisy of literature, completely one-dimensional. I just couldn't deal with her lack of depth. So mixed feelings on this one I guess...

Washington Square’s Catherine Sloper is Daisy Miller’s opposite. Neither pretty nor charming, she lives with her wealthy, widowed, tyrannical father, Dr. Austin Sloper, who can barely conceal his disdain for his shy, awkward daughter. When a handsome suitor, Morris Townsend, comes calling, Catherine’s father refuses to believe he is anything other than a heartless fortune hunter and sets out to destroy her romance.

This story I enjoyed a bit more than the first one. I enjoyed the interplay between all the characters and personalities. I have read that James disliked this story very much, but I enjoyed this slice of life.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverley

Title: Emily and the Dark Angel (Renfrew/Kyle #4)

Author: Jo Beverley

Publisher: Signet Eclipse

Genre: Regency Romance

Pages: 273

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Seasonal Series - Read while Eating Ice Cream

Emily Grantwich lives quietly with her crippled father and eccentric aunt, managing the family's land, until the fateful day she walks down the main street of Melton Mowbray and is showered with Poudre de Violettes, thrown by a lady of loose morals at the handsomest man Emily has ever seen.

He is Piers Verderan, known by many as the Dark Angel. His friends lay the blame for his scandalous ways on his troubled past. No decent woman should be seen in his company, but Emily must dutifully manage her father's estate-which Verderan's land adjoins.

Soon Emily learns that the Dark Angel is very dangerous, especially to her sanity and her heart...

Another great Regency romance. I really fell for Piers Verderan in the last book and couldn't wait to see more from him. I immediately fell for Emily but over the course of the book, I really wanted to see a bit more fire from her. Her character progressed over the course of the story, but I was still left wanting more from her. On the other hand, I really loved Ver so much!

Renfrew/Kyle

#1 The Stanforth Secrets
#2 Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed
#3 The Stolen Bride
#4 Emily and the Dark Angel
#4.5 If Fancy Be the Food of Love
#5 The Fortune Hunter
#6 Deirdre and Don Juan

Next up on the TBR pile:

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Stalking the Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1)

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson 2016

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 337

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Share a Tea; Library Love; Seasonal Series - Book from YA series

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

A lot of book bloggers I follow have read this and loved it, so I put it on my short TBR. Fate stepped in and put it in my face on the featured books shelf at the library. I had to get it. I proceeded to devour this book in just a few days time. I loved the fictionalized account of Jack the Ripper complete with gorey details and some great new characters. Audrey Rose is a treat. I loved seeing a young woman wrestling with her love of fine things and her love of dissection and the medical sciences. So great! And Thomas is just perfect as her foil. The characters really have a Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes feel to them without making the book too derivative. I really enjoyed this volume and hope to grab the second on at the library soon.

Stalking Jack the Ripper:

#1 Stalking Jack the Ripper
#2 Hunting Prince Dracula
#3 Escaping from Houdini

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Stolen Bride by Jo Beverley

Title: The Stolen Bride (Renfrew/Kyle #3)

Author: Jo Beverley

Publisher: Signet Eclipse

Genre: Regency Romance

Pages: 274

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Seasonal Series - Set in Summer

When Beth Hawley journeys to Lord Wraybourne's castle to help young Lady Sophie Kyle prepare for her wedding, she has to share her carriage with two unexpected travelers, the rakish Sir Marius Fletcher, who is stranded after his curricle overturns, and an unidentified elderly woman, found unconscious in a wrecked carriage.

As the date of Sophie's wedding draws near, Beth realizes some mysterious shadow from the past seems to haunt the bride and groom. The elderly woman, suffering from memory loss, may hold the key. Beth turns to Sir Marius for help, but her efforts are thwarted at every turn as she encounters a most unlikely villain-while her only ally seems to have his mind set more on romance than the danger at hand...

This volume is a great addition to the series. I loved seeing the continuation of Randal and Sophie's love story even if I wanted to knock their heads together every few pages. But beyond them, I really loved Beth and Marius's story and even the introduction of Ver. I especially can't wait for Ver's story in the next volume. The big mystery wasn't hard to figure out, but I still appreciated the story and call back to previous volumes.

Renfrew/Kyle

#1 The Stanforth Secrets
#2 Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed
#3 The Stolen Bride
#4 Emily and the Dark Angel
#4.5 If Fancy Be the Food of Love
#5 The Fortune Hunter
#6 Deirdre and Don Juan

Next up on the TBR pile:

How to Fall in Love with a Man Who Lives in a Bush by Emmy Abrahamson

Title: How to Fall in Love with a Man Who Lives in a Bush

Author: Emmy Abrahamson

Publisher: Harper 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 231

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Reading Assignment; Modern Mrs. Darcy - In Translation; Seasonal Series - Read by the pool

Vienna: famous for Mozart, waltzes, and pastry; less famous for Julia, a Swedish transplant who spends her days teaching English to unemployed Austrians and her evenings watching Netflix with her cat or club hopping with a frenemy. An aspiring novelist, Julia’s full of ideas for future bestsellers: A writer moves his family to a deserted hotel in the dead of winter and spirals into madness! A homely governess loves a brooding man whose crazy wife is locked up in the attic! Fine, so they’ve been done. Doesn’t mean Julia won’t find something original.

Then something original finds Julia—sits down next to her on a bench, as a matter of fact. Ben is handsome (under all that beard) and adventurous (leaps from small bridges in a single bound). He’s also sexy as hell and planning to shuffle off to Berlin before things can get too serious. Oh, and Ben lives in a public park.

Thus begins a truth stranger than any fiction Julia might have imagined: a whirlwind relationship with a guy who shares her warped sense of humor and shakes up the just-okay existence she’s been too lazy to change. Ben challenges her to break out; she challenges him to settle down. As weeks turn to months, Julia keeps telling herself that this is a chapter in her life, not the whole book. If she writes the ending, she can’t get hurt.

My mom picked up this book at a free library event and thought I would like this quirky story. Unfortunately, most of it just fell flat for me. I was intrigued by the storyline. I loved the character of Ben. But... the writing was very juvenile. Choppy sentences. First person narration that read more like a blog post than a book. I don't know if it has something to do with the translator, or that's really how the book is written. All I know is that I kept having to stop reading with thoughts like "Is that really the sentence you want to put into print?" Some may like this little book, I didn't.

But what if the ending isn’t hers to write?

Next up on the TBR pile:

Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine

Title: Smoke and Iron (Great Library #4)

Author: Rachel Caine

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 448

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Share-a-Tea; I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Book on the go

The opening moves of a deadly game have begun. Jess Brightwell has put himself in direct peril, with only his wits and skill to aid him in a game of cat and mouse with the Archivist Magister of the Great Library. With the world catching fire, and words printed on paper the spark that lights rebellion, it falls to smugglers, thieves, and scholars to save a library thousands of years in the making...if they can stay alive long enough to outwit their enemies.

I snagged this volume off my library's Lucky Day shelf. So incredibly excited to read this one. I was in from page one and sped through the entire book in just a few days. I loved the varying narrators to give a bigger picture of the characters. Khalila has become my favorite character in the entire story. Her quiet strength and leadership is just amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that this wasn't the end of the series. I have to wait who knows how long until the final volume is this great series.

The Great Library

Next up on the TBR pile:

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

Title: Out of Africa

Author: Isak Dinesen

Publisher: 1937

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 399

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual (Rory Gilmore); Popsugar - Male pseudonym; Share-a-Tea

With classic simplicity and a painter's feeling for atmosphere and detail, Isak Dinesen tells of the years she spent from 1914 to 1931 managing a coffee plantation in Kenya.

This one has been on my list for years, especially after I read Circling the Sun. I was a little thrown off by the nonlinear nature to this book, but quickly got over the format. The volume is part memoir, part travelogue. I really fell into the atmosphere of Kenya and Karen's life there. Passages of this book were incredibly beautiful. It took me a bit of time to get through this one only because I had to reread some of the descriptive passages.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Title: Picnic at Hanging Rock

Author: Joan Lindsay

Publisher: 1967

Genre: Classics

Pages: 198

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Share-a-Tea

It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned. . . .

One of those books that I have wanted to read, but never actually got to it. This is our book club selection for July so I had to read it. This book was great! I loved the characters and Lindsay's descriptions of said characters. I didn't know exactly what I was getting into, but quickly I dove into the mystery of the disappearance. I didn't quite realize that the focus of the story was on the side character more than the disappeared. I love that the mystery is never truly resolved, but left to the reader's imagination. I can't wait to watch the movies and new mini series.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Ghostly Light by Juliet Blackwell

Title: A Ghostly Light (Haunted Home Renovation #7)

Author: Juliet Blackwell

Publisher: Berkley 2017

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Pages: 315

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Read a book you're sure you'll love

When her friend Alicia hires Turner Construction to renovate a historic lighthouse in the San Francisco Bay, Mel Turner can’t wait to get her hands dirty. Alicia plans to transform the island property into a welcoming inn, and while Mel has never attempted a project so ambitious—or so tall—before, she’s definitely up for the challenge.

But trouble soon arises when Alicia’s abusive ex-husband shows up to threaten both her and Mel, and later turns up dead at the base of the lighthouse stairs. With no other suspects in sight, things start looking choppy for Alicia. Now, if Mel wants to clear her friend’s name, she’ll need the help of the lighthouse’s resident ghosts to shine a light on the real culprit...

Another great cozy mystery. I love that this one was set on an island in a lighthouse. Such a great setting. And Alicia has become a great side character. In fact, one of the reasons that I really love this series is all the great side characters. Love this story. Can't wait until Blackwell writes another one.

Haunted Home Renovation

Next up on the TBR pile:

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Title: Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publisher: Tor 2018

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 174

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Share-a-Tea; I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Hyped Series

Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third book in McGuire's Wayward Children series, returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children in a standalone contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the "real" world.

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can't find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests...

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Still so in love with this series and the worlds McGuire has created. I love that we finally get to see Confection and Sumi's story gets to continue. Plus we get to visit Nancy and are introduced to new characters. Such a great adventure story. I devoured this one in less than two days. I just couldn't help myself. This volume was great, but what I really want is more of Christopher's story. I really hope we get to see more soon.

Wayward Children

#1 Every Heart a Doorway
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky
#4 In an Absent Dream
#5 Come Tumbling Down

Next up on the TBR pile:

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Title: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publisher: Tor 2017

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 190

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - Twins; I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Fantasy Series

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

All through the first book in this series, I wondered about the history of Jack and Jill. Thankfully McGuire wrote an entire book just about their story and it was truly horrifying. I loved the world of The Moors and the cast of characters that live there. The Master and Dr. Bleak are great villains in a world of villains. I loved reading through the twins's story and ultimate expulsion back to our world. Such a great slim novel.

Wayward Children

#1 Every Heart a Doorway
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky
#4 In an Absent Dream
#5 Come Tumbling Down

Next up on the TBR pile:

Give Up the Ghost by Juliet Blackwell

Title: Give Up the Ghost (Haunted Home Renovation #6)

Author: Juliet Blackwell

Publisher: Obsidian 2015

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Yellow on cover

San Francisco millionaire Andrew Flynt wants to sell his Victorian mansion, but ghostly music, the squeaking of a long-disappeared weathervane, and an angry ghost keep running off potential buyers. After a famous psychic is called in, she informs the Flynts that their multi-million-dollar renovations to “update” the home have left its resident ghost extremely agitated. So contractor Mel Turner is engaged to track down and replace some of the original features of the house.

But when the beautiful psychic is found stabbed, it appears someone had a very human motive for murder. Now Mel must use her ghost whispering gift to uncover the secrets of the haunted house on the hill, and her sleuthing skills to catch a killer.

Another fun mystery! I really love Mel and this story was a good one. The mystery of Flora and Chantelle had some interesting twists. And the subplot involving the housewife added another fun layer. I loved checking back in with Caleb and Stan and Luz and all the rest of the fun characters. The only thing I didn't enjoy: Mel and Graham's relationship. Blergh.

Haunted Home Renovation

Next up on the TBR pile:

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Title: Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publisher: Tor 2016

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 173

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - LGBTQ+ Protagonist; What's in a Name - Shape; Seasonal Series - LGBTQ+ Characters

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things.

No matter the cost.

This slim book is just so incredibly beautiful. I know it's cliche to say that a book is beautifully written, but in this case it's true. I loved devouring every single word of this story. I loved how McGuire dumps the reader into the story without much introduction and world building. Instead we are left to figure out the situation along with Nancy. I was fully immersed from page one. I loved it and can't wait to pick up another book in this series.

Wayward Children

#1 Every Heart a Doorway
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky
#4 In an Absent Dream
#5 Come Tumbling Down

Next up on the TBR pile:

Chimera by Mira Grant

Title: Symbiont (Parasitology #3)

Author: Mira Grant

Publisher: Orbit 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 488

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Finish a Trilogy

The outbreak has spread, tearing apart the foundations of society, as implanted tapeworms have turned their human hosts into a seemingly mindless mob.

Sal and her family are trapped between bad and worse, and must find a way to compromise between the two sides of their nature before the battle becomes large enough to destroy humanity, and everything that humanity has built...including the chimera.

The broken doors are closing. Can Sal make it home?

Such a great conclusion to this trilogy! I was so deeply invested in Sal and her fellow chimera. I couldn't wait to see how everything ended. Who would live? Who would die? What other surprises would we encounter along the way? I loved that we got to see less of Dr. Banks (seriously didn't care for him) and more of Fang and Fishy and Sherman. I loved the excerpts from diaries and autobiographies. I loved how most of the story focused on Sal as a narrator, but we did get some fun interludes featuring Sherman. Loved this series!

Parasitology

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Walking Dead Vol. 29

Title: The Walking Dead Vol. 29: Lines We Cross

Author: Robert Kirkman; Charlie Adlard; Stefano Guadiano; Cliff Rathburn; Dave Stewart

Publisher: Image 2018

Genre: Comics

Pages: 136

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel

Recent events have thrown Alexandria into turmoil, and now Rick, Dwight, Eugene and Negan all have something to prove.

Collects THE WALKING DEAD #169-174.

This volume was less about zombies and more about the divisions between the survivors left. Interest conflicts and moral dilemmas. I was especially interested to see how Maggie's interactions played out.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed by Jo Beverley

Title: Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed (Renfrew/Kyle #2)

Author: Jo Beverley

Publisher: Signet Eclipse 1988

Genre: Regency Romance

Pages: 283

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Seasonal Series - Second Book

Even if the handsome, debonair Lord Wraybourne is only marrying Jane Sandiford for her fortune as she suspects that does not diminish the powerful sway her betrothed seems to hold over her. The Sandiford Heiress has lived a sheltered life and is known for being stuffy, so her passionate responses to her fiancé's attentions catch her by surprise.

As confused and mortified as she is by her own emotions, Jane is even more scandalized when the dread Whisperer, the scourge of polite Society, rasps unspeakable vileness into her ear. And she is troubled by the news that someone is assaulting young women ?of the middling class? in the streets of London. Yet she remains unaware that an adversary closer to home schemes to sabotage the relationship between Lord Wraybourne and his betrothed?

At first I was very confused about how this book connected with the first book that I read in this series. But then I realized that Lord Ashby was the connector. Okay so I group loosely connected but different stories in each volume. While I enjoyed Jane and Sophie as characters, Lord Wraybourne's wasn't the most interesting male protagonist. I wish he had been a bit more fleshed out. At any rate, it was a typical fluffy Regency romance. It was a nice quick enjoyable read.

Renfrew/Kyle

#1 The Stanforth Secrets
#2 Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed
#3 The Stolen Bride
#4 Emily and the Dark Angel
#4.5 If Fancy Be the Food of Love
#5 The Fortune Hunter
#6 Deirdre and Don Juan

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Walking Dead: Here's Negan

Title: The Walking Dead: Here's Negan

Author: Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Dave Stewart

Publisher: Image 2017

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 70

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel

Who is Negan? Since his debut in THE WALKING DEAD #100, the charismatic psychopath has antagonized Rick Grimes, murdered his friend with a baseball bat wrapped in barb wire (which he calls "Lucille"), and led the Saviors into war against Alexandria and the neighboring communities. But who was he before society broke down? That question will be answered here, collecting the “HERE’S NEGAN!” story originally serialized in IMAGE+ magazine.

Great backstory for one of the most interesting villains in comics books. I was so very interested in how Negan became the man we see in the main series. Loved every page in this volume. Great story!

Next up on the TBR pile: