Book Reviews Archives - Proud Book Reviews

May 29, 2023May 30, 2023

A Laird for the Highland Lady – Catherine Tinley

This book contains:

Marriage infidelity
Attempted “sale” of a person
Extreme neglect of tenants.

Eilidh and Max were first introduced to me in A Laird in London, and what I learnt of them in this book solidified my thoughts on them.

Eilidh is a fun, gracious woman of her time who wants to find a good husband, but also doesn’t want to let her people or her brother down. While she tries to do right by everyone around her, she doesn’t expect much in return, especially when she accidentally says what she’s meaning without taking a moment to think first.

Max is a a-typical second son of the Ton. While he certainly behaves as such, he has ambitions to more in life, even if he’s not sure what that looks like just yet. Since his brother has refused him the opportunity to work and discover what he’s passionate about, he has no direction to follow and therefore goes where opportunities arise to discover what life might offer him.

The first portion of the storyline follows Eilidh’s time in London which as get in more detail in A Laird in London but from the perspective of Eilidh and Max in their rare interactions. However, where A Laird in London ends, we continue with much more detail following as Max discovers what it means to be a Laird and do right by his tenants, and Eilidh.

I really enjoyed getting Eilidh and Max’s perspective, especially since it had a little bit of a crossover with A Laird in London. While I don’t normally like books that repeat the same time periods, in this case, we get a very different perspective, it’s highly truncated and it almost explains all the oddity’s I picked up on in A Laird in London.

And of course then the gorgeous Scottish highlands!

The descriptions were so amazing I found myself Googling where they ended up trying to see if pictures could match the magical feeling of the place Catherine gave me. While most didn’t, I could see the hint of it that made me think it’s one of those things where you truly have to be there to feel it. Which is exactly the emotions Max was described as going through.

I definitely think I need to go back and grab A Laird for the Governess just to get more of the Scottish landscape and the people of this unique area.

Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.

Author Bio

Catherine Tinley is an award winning author of historical romance. She writes witty, heartwarming Regency romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her first book, Waltzing with the Earl, won the Rita® Award for Best Historical Romance 2018, while Rags-to-Riches Wife won the RoNA Award for Best Historical Romance 2021 as well as the HOLT Medallion, and A Waltz with the Outspoken Governess has won the RoNA Award for Best Historical Romance 2022.

She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech & language therapy, Sure Start, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now manages a maternity hospital. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, cats, and dog.

Giveaway – Win a signed copy of A Laird for the Highland Lady (open international)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

May 8, 2023April 18, 2023

Her Orc Protector – Zoe Ashwood

This book contains:

False accusations with the intent to cause death to an innocent.

Ivy is a woman who’s forced into independence after her parents died young and then her cheating husband died the previous year. Since her parents’ death she’s cared for herself and earnt her own income, despite her husband and her village working against her.

Korr is a hunter for the Black Bear Clan and spends most of his life outside of the hall hunting. Despite his fears and insecurities, he’s a vital asset to the Clan and has friends in unlikely places.

Korr finds Ivy after her villagers leave her to die after experiencing a bad year of poor harvest and illness. While Ivy understands why the villagers behaved like this, it still frustrates and disappoints her as it means she can never return to the family home she grew up in. Korr on the other hand is worried only for Ivy’s safety and puts himself in harms way to try and protect Ivy.

I found Korr and Ivy to be such a sweet couple. The little ways in which they suffer through discomfort so the other can be comfortable are so cute and sweet.

Thanks to Korr’s history, we learn more about the history of the Black Bear Clan and what life was like before they split off on their own. While some of it comes directly from Korr, we also get an introduction to a character I kinda hope gets his own book.

Overall, I flew through this book in almost a single day as I was having a lazy relaxation day. So I didn’t dwell too much on anything as I just consumed it all so quickly.

May 4, 2023April 18, 2023

Consequence of Their Forbidden Night – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Divorce after several affairs.

Hannah is a woman who was forced to grow up too young, thanks to absentee parents, she raised her younger sister from a young age and protected her and her mother as best she could throughout her life. Even after leaving home, her desire to earn money to send home has driven her life.

Brendan is a billionaire orphan who owns a chain of hotels and works to “avenge” the death of his parents even though he has enough money to live comfortably. Especially when he also inherited multiple properties around the world from his parents.

Brendan and Hannah’s story begins before Jessie and Joel’s book giving us some insight almost immediately as to what caused Hannah’s upset in the previous book. We then follow them over a period of a few months as they figure out their future.

I fully enjoyed this story, although the lack of communication did grate me at times.

Given what happens between them, you’d expect them to start speaking more openly about their thoughts, emotions and plans for the future without judgement or pre-conceived ideas about the other’s motives.

While I understand that that can be difficult, especially for someone with Hannah’s background. It felt like something they should’ve been working on more consciously straight away. But then, if they did that, where would the drama be for the type of romance, we enjoy reading?

We need the angst, the drama, the uncertainty that then makes the final happily ever after so enjoyable.

Overall, a good story, just bear with it if you’re like me and find lack of communication frustrating.

May 1, 2023April 18, 2023

The Billionaires Island Temptation – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Death of a spouse and parent.

Jessie is a loving woman who’s always been looked after by her sister, and she’s determined to take care of herself finally. She’s experienced loss and heart break, but she’s sure she can handle the loss and her anxiety without her sister micromanaging her life.

Joel lives his life without consequences and avoids responsibility at all costs. He’s lost and struggling, but he’s slowly getting back to normal after his own tragic experience.

Jessie is sent to the island of Mustique by her sister for some much-needed rest and recuperation after the death of her mother and her break up. Meanwhile, Joel is still using his friend’s house in Mustique when Jessie arrives and finds himself wanting to stay, despite his friend specifically ordering him to be gone before Jessie arrived.

It was so interesting to hear about the island of Mustique, the history and the flora native to the island.

While I likely won’t ever make it to the island, reading about it felt like a special treat, especially hearing the description of the house and how relaxing it was. It created such a sense of calm, even though I was just reading the descriptions on the page.

Then on the counter side of that, the pain and emotional turmoil of both Jessie and Joel was seeping off the pages. The empathy they created was surprising, but also goes to show how well Rachael writes.

April 27, 2023April 18, 2023

The Billionaire Behind the Headlines – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Mentions and discussions of domestic violence and it’s impacts
Fake pregnancy and miscarriage.

We met both Theo and Bree in Secrets Behind the Billionaire’s Return, with Theo being the second Ferrington heir, and Bree is the local baker and best friend to Felicity.

Theo is portrayed as a playboy with no long term ties to women and the face of the Ferrington brand. While Bree is the quiet girl who moved from London to support her aunt and uncle and their bakery in the sleepy Yorkshire town. Neither are really looking for relationships, especially with their own past baggage.

Theo breezes into town and through the paparazzi when his brother needs him and is almost assaulted by Bree and kitchen implements for his troubles. While they’re able to move past their not so friendly introduction, Paris threatens to tear them apart in ways they hadn’t expected.

I’d been waiting for this sequel for ages without realising it’d come out ages ago, purely because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to Rachael and her works. I’m so glad she gifted me a copy so I could finish off this series because it was quite a ride!

I feel like I went through a whole bunch of emotions in such a short time, because how can you not when Theo is opening up about his past and how wrong the media have got things?

While I couldn’t see how they could get past Paris, Rachael kept me hooked and hoping, and that hope paid off!

While series and sequels aren’t really Rachael’s normal thing, she’s done a great job with this and it lets you put the Ferrington’s down at the end while being happy.

April 24, 2023April 18, 2023

The Bad Sister – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Deception
Love triangle
Divorce
Potentially non-consensual sex referenced/discussed
Financial distress.

Carrie is a Hollywood superstar trying to find more meaning in her life. While she’s got everything most people dream of, she feel unfulfilled and unhappy and can’t work out why. So she creates a plan to swap places with her twin sister so she can have a break from the media spotlight and figure out what she really wants.

Dan has made a name for himself as a club owner and manager across the UK. A long way from the days where his high school love dumped him callously and left for Hollywood, he’s determined to not leave himself that vulnerable ever again.

Carrie is secretly in London to get away from the media scrutiny she’s constantly under, and to figure out what she’s doing with her life. While in London, she’s doing everything she can to help her sister’s Club be the amazing location she believes it can be. Even if that means begging Dan to help her, for her sisters’ sake.

While love triangles aren’t usually something I enjoy, just because it can get so complex and messy between everyone, Rachael has outdone herself in giving us that complexity and messiness, without it being painful to read.

Add in the emotional damage Carrier inflicted while trying to end the love triangle, for his sister’s sake, and it creates another level of complexity that Dan and Carrier need to work through. While we followed along with their reconnection and attempted maintenance of their distance, I found myself constantly groaning and wondering how they could communicate so badly.

But I guess that’s the whole point. And of course, by the end they work it all out and we get an epic happily ever after for everyone involved.

April 20, 2023April 18, 2023

My Year with the Billionaire – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Broken families, including separation of children from their parents
References to drug and alcohol abuse
Domestic violence
Foster care
Death of a loved one.

Summer is a carefree spirit with deep vulnerabilities stemming from the abuse and suffering she experienced during her childhood. She spends her time moving around the world living life to the fullest, and yet, never quite feeling like she’s fulfilled.

Edward is the billionaire grandson of a Scottish estate owner/ philanthropist/ foster carer. He spent a lot of time with his grandmother on her estate and as part of that got to know many of the foster children she helped.

Summer and Edward are informed of the death of Edward’s grandmother with a strange requirement in her will.

That they must spend 12 months living together on the estate or otherwise forfeit their half of their inheritance from her.

Rachael has a knack for connecting you to societal issues that you probably don’t know much about. In this case, it’s the impact of difficult childhoods regardless of the socioeconomic status of the family.

While Summer infuriated me at times, overall, she stayed true to who she was and worked (slowly and with many complaints) to improve herself. It’s a trait that I’m sure many of us can relate to which is partly what made it so understandable, even if it infuriated me.

But in the end, you know you get the ending you want and it felt magical.

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023

Promises of the Runes – Christina Courtenay

This book contains:

Kidnapping
Attempted rape.

Ivar is the older foster brother to those that have time travelled before. With no living blood relatives, he’s desperate to find out about his own heritage and find out where his family comes from.

Ellisif is a Viking woman whose land and holdings are under threat. Despite everything she’s going through, she’s strong, she’s determined and she’s willing to fight for what she deserves.

Ivar finds a way to travel back in time to meet his ancestors with the aim of learning about his heritage and Viking culture. Before he can travel back in time, he has a vision of a woman he doesn’t know that appears to be from the Viking era.

Once he travels back in time, Ivar finds himself experiencing an adventure he didn’t expect, including finding the woman from his vision.

I was really looking forward to this coming out and I wasn’t disappointed.

Christina has such an amazing way of fully absorbing you into her world. The detail she’s able to give to little things like the clothing, the way boats, tools and weapons are made are what pulls you into her world and what makes it real.

I think one of the best bits is how it ends. How Ivar and Ellisif choose to live their lives together in the way that makes sense to them. While it was a bit of surprise, I was happy with how it ended and it makes me wonder how the next one will go (there is a next one right? I know I need another one!).

Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Promises of the Runes (time travel romance published by Headline Review 13th April 2023) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023

The Centurions Wife – Rachael Stewart

This book contains:

Slavery of all kind, with a particular emphasis on sex slaves.

Gaius is a Roman Centurion with his own land, household and wife, Aurelia. While Gaius has wrong up as a citizen of Rome and therefore certain privileges, Aurelia was taken by Rome as a slave until Gaius fell in love and raised her out of slavery to become his wife.

Lucia and Lucius are the body slaves (and sometimes/frequently sex slaves) of the wife of Gaius’ Commander. As slaves, they have little choices and forced to go where they’re bid.

When Gaius is called to leave his home and train more Centurion’s, he’s left with a problem as he doesn’t trust his household to protect and care for Aurelia. Because of his concerns, Lucia and Lucius are gifted to Aurelia to see to her comforts and ensure she’s happy and safe while he’s away.

This Roman practically erotica novella is a big change of pace for Rachael, normally she write more contemporary styles with a mix of some spiciness and plain sweet romances. In contrast, this novella is way further up the spiciness spectrum to almost an erotica, and set way back in Roman times.

Given the spiciness warning Rachael gave me, and that the blurb talked about Lucia and Lucius quite explicitly, I was expecting the story to start and focus more on their relationship with Aurelia. The fact the focus of the emotional part of the story was still on Gaius and Aurelia’s love was something I wasn’t expecting, and yet is exactly what Rachael has a knack for doing.

While it’s vastly different to her normal books, it still has all the tell-tale signs of her writing which I love!

For a super short 41 pages, you’ll get a surprising breadth of characters and relationships touched on and explored to some degree.