Review: The Duke in My Bed by Amelia Grey

HERE COMES THE GROOM

As a notorious member of the Heirs’ Club, Bray Drakestone can’t resist a challenge from one of his well-heeled colleagues—especially when it involves money and horses. But the friendly wager takes an unexpected and deadly turn. Bray is forced to agree to marry one of his challenger’s five sisters—sight unseen. Now gamblers all over London are placing bets on whether Bray will actually go through with it…

THERE GOES THE BRIDE

Miss Louisa Prim, the eldest sister, doesn’t care a whit what the reckless rogue at the Heirs’ Club promised her brother—she has no intention of marrying the future Duke of Drakestone. Bray, however, sees her rejection as another challenge. He bets that the fiery Miss Prim will not only agree to marry him, she will propose to him! With four sisters behind her, Louisa knows she can’t lose. But why does her opponent have to be a divinely handsome scoundrel? And so sweetly, irresistibly seductive…

First, I love the cover.  All that purple!  Second, the exclusive I got at Heroes and Heartbreakers really sold me on this book.  I couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen next.

In The Duke in My Bed, Ms. Grey has taken a very prim young woman and a rakish man and changed their outlooks toward the other.  Their futures are entwined based upon a deathbed promise, one which Bray has no intention of keeping.  Louisa plans to live her life caring for her younger sisters, and as the blurb says, she isn't going to marry Bray, promise or not.  

Throughout the course of the narrative, we see their respective opinions change.  Louisa watches Bray with her sisters; Bray cannot stop thinking about Louisa.  Their involvement with each other begins with a promise yet morphs into so much more.  Their romance is a sweet one -- Louisa protests a bit too much at times -- but I thoroughly enjoyed watching them fall in love.

(A very special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Duke in My Bed.)

Review: Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase

From the Diary of Leonie Noirot: The perfect corset should invite its undoing . . .

Lethally charming Simon Blair, Marquess of Lisburne, has reluctantly returned to London for one reason only: a family obligation. Still, he might make time for the seduction of a certain redheaded dressmaker—but Leonie Noirot hasn't time for him. She's obsessed with transforming his cousin, the dowdy Lady Gladys, into a swan.

Leonie's skills can coax curves—and profits—from thin air, but his criminally handsome lordship is too busy trying to seduce her to appreciate her genius. He badly needs to learn a lesson, and the wager she provokes ought to teach him, once and for all.

A great plan, in theory—but Lisburne's become a serious distraction and Leonie's usual logic is in danger of slipping away as easily as a silk chemise. Could the Season's greatest transformation be her own?

The third Noirot sister, Leonie, is featured in Vixen in Velvet.  I do love this series by Ms. Chase.

Like the two previous books, this one has wit and charm, and I enjoyed the chase of Lisburne and Leonie's staunch refusals.  She prefers order and reason, and Lisburne -- and is bet -- is just the distraction she needs.

I may have to binge read the series before I pick up Book Four, Dukes Prefer Blondes. 

Eagerly Anticipating -- January 2015