Monday, March 21, 2022

Historical Romance Bracket Challenge: Round of 64 Day Four


Welcome to Day Four of the Historical Romance Bracket Challenge! Fun fact: coming up for post intros when you're writing them every day is surprisingly difficult. We're in the thick of things right now, so why don't I get down to business. And of course, if you want to see the full schedule or catch up on the details, read the intro post here.

Current Standings:
Group 3 saw My Darling, My Disaster by Amalie Howard and Angie Morgan going up against After Dark With the Duke by Julie Anne Long, with the latter triumphing. In Group 11, A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Mandal Collins beat out Her Night With the Duke by Diana Quincy. Olivia Waite fans showed up for Group 19, and The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics beat Duke Gone Rogue by Christy Carlyle. Lastly, in Group 27, The Duke's Guide to Correct Behavior by Megan Frampton won over Third Son's a Charm by Shana Galen.

Enemies to Lovers Lovers Alley
Only One Bed Lane
Marriage of Convenience Avenue
Aristocrat in Disguise Road

Tonight's Books:
Group 4 - How to Train Your Earl by Amelia Grey vs The Scandal of It All by Sophie Jordan (March 21st, 8pm)
Group 12 - A Duke in Time by Janna MacGregor vs The Devil Downtown by Joanna Shupe (March 21st, 8pm)
Group 20 - About a Rogue by Caroline Linden vs This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman (March 21st, 8pm)
Group 28 - My One and Only Duke by Grace Burrowes vs Wilde Child by Eloisa James (March 21st, 8pm)

Title: How to Train Your Earl
Author: Amelia Grey
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release: April 27, 2021
Series: First Comes Love #3
Pages: 346

Synopsis:

A roguish earl must fight using his honor and not his sword to win his lady's hand in How To Train Your Earl, the third book in the First Comes Love trilogy from bestseller Amelia Grey.

Brina Feld has settled into a life devoted to helping others since the sinking of the Salty Dove left her widowed. She has no need for a man in her contented life. But when the notorious and handsome Lord Blacknight returns and awakens her desires, her peace and serenity vanish. If she agrees to an alliance with him, she knows she will have to battle her heart to keep from being snared under his spell.

Zane, the Earl of Blacknight, was never supposed to inherit the earldom, so he didn't much care to lead a respectable life before then. Fistfights, card games, and drinking are the order of the day. Now he's determined to change his rakish ways and he knows the proper lady who can help him. There's just one problem: He's already bet he'll win her hand before the Season is over. With her resolve to out-scheme him, how can he show her that his love is true?

You Can Find it At:

Title: The Scandal of It All
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: Avon
Release: July 25, 2017
Series: The Rogue Files #2
Pages: 376
My Review: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

It takes two to make a scandal…

What kind of woman ventures into London’s most notorious pleasure club? An outsider like Graciela, the Duchess of Autenberry, snubbed time and time again by society because of her Spanish roots. Ela longs to take a lover for a single, wild night, and within the walls of Sodom there are gentlemen to suit every forbidden taste. If only she were not so drawn to the smoldering Lord Strickland…a dangerous man who sees beyond her mask, and could ruin her reputation with a mere whisper.

Lord Strickland never permitted himself to fantasize about the sultry, off-limits lady, but then he never expected to find Ela in a place so wicked, looking for what he’s more than too happy to give. She may not be to the ton’s taste, but she suits him perfectly. First, however, he must convince her to trust in this dangerous desire—and in the promise of forever unleashed by one wild, scandalous night.

You Can Find it At:
Barnes & Noble
iBooks
Kobo
Google Play
IndieBound
Amazon.com

Title: A Duke in Time
Author: Janna MacGregor
Publisher: St. Martin's
Release: June 29, 2021
Series: The Widow Rules #1
Pages: 366
My Review: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

Get ready for lost wills, broody dukes, and scorching hot kissing all over London in A Duke in Time by Janna MacGregor.

Katherine Vareck is in for the shock of her life when she learns upon her husband Meri's accidental death that he had married two other women. Her entire business, along with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a royal supplier, is everything she's been working for and now could be destroyed if word leaks about the three wives.

Meri's far more upstanding brother, Christian, Duke of Randford has no earthly clue how to be of assistance. He spent the better part of his adult years avoiding Meri and the rest of his good-for-nothing family, so to be dragged back into the fold is…problematic. Even more so is the intrepid and beautiful Katherine, whom he cannot be falling for because she's Meri's widow. Or can he?

With a textile business to run and a strong friendship forming with Meri's two other wives, Katherine doesn't have time for much else. But there's something about the warm, but compellingly taciturn Christian that draws her to him. When an opportunity to partner in a business venture brings them even closer, they'll have to face their pasts if they want to share each other's hearts and futures.

You Can Find it At:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Apple Books
Kobo

Title: The Devil of Downtown
Author: Joanna Shupe
Publisher: Avon
Release: June 30, 2020
Series: Uptown Girls #3
Pages: 376
My Review: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

The final novel in Joanna Shupe's critically acclaimed Uptown Girl series about a beautiful do-gooder who must decide if she can team up with one of New York's brashest criminals without losing something irreplaceable: her heart.

Manhattan kingpin.
Brilliant mastermind.
Gentleman gangster.

He's built a wall around his heart...

Orphaned and abandoned on the Bowery's mean streets, Jack Mulligan survived on strength, cunning, and ambition. Now he rules his territory better than any politician or copper ever could. He didn't get here by being soft. But in uptown do-gooder Justine Greene―the very definition of an iron fist in a velvet glove―Jack may have met his match. 

She wears hers on her sleeve...

Justine is devoted to tracking down deadbeat husbands and fighting for fair working conditions. When her mission brings her face-to-face with Jack, she's shocked to find the man behind the criminal empire is considerably more charming and honorable than many "gentlemen" she knows. 

Forming an unlikely alliance, they discover an unexpected desire. And when Justine's past catches up with them, Jack may be her only hope of survival. Is she ready to make a deal with the devil...?

You Can Find it At:
Amazon 
Barnes & Noble
Apple Books
Kobo
Google

Title: About a Rogue
Author: Caroline Linden
Publisher: Avon
Release: June 30, 2020
Series: Desperately Seeking Duke #1
Pages: 384

Synopsis:

The first book in the new series Desperately Seeking Duke from USA Today bestselling and RITA award-winning author Caroline Linden.

It’s no love match…

Bianca Tate is horrified when her sister Cathy is obliged to accept an offer of marriage from Maximilian St. James, notorious rake. Defiantly she helps Cathy elope with her true love, and takes her sister’s place at the altar.

It’s not even the match that was made…

Perched on the lowest branch of his family tree, Max has relied on charm and cunning to survive. But an unexpected stroke of luck gives him an outside chance at a dukedom—and which Tate sister he weds hardly seems to matter. 

But could it be the perfect match? 

Married or not, Bianca is determined to protect her family’s prosperous ceramics business, even when Max shows an affinity for it—not to mention a dangerous ability to intrigue and tempt Bianca herself. And when Max realizes how beautiful and intelligent and desirable Bianca is, he’ll have to prove he’s no rogue, but the passionately devoted husband she craves…

You Can Find it At:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Books-a-Million
IndieBound
iBooks
Google Play
Kobo

Title: This Earl of Mine
Author: Kate Bateman
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release: October 29, 2019
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #1
Pages: 325
Review: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

Introducing the Bow Street Bachelors―men who work undercover for London’s first official police force―and the women they serve to protect. . . and wed?

Will a false marriage

Shipping heiress Georgiana Caversteed is done with men who covet her purse more than her person. Even worse than the ton’s lecherous fortune hunters, however, is the cruel cousin determined to force Georgie into marriage. If only she could find a way to be . . . widowed? Georgie hatches a madcap scheme to wed a condemned criminal before he’s set to be executed. All she has to do is find an eligible bachelor in prison to marry her, and she’ll be free. What could possibly go wrong?

Lead to true and lasting love?

Benedict William Henry Wylde, scapegrace second son of the late Earl of Morcott and well-known rake, is in Newgate prison undercover, working for Bow Street. Georgie doesn’t realize who he is when she marries him―and she most certainly never expects to bump into her very-much-alive, and very handsome, husband of convenience at a society gathering weeks later. Soon Wylde finds himself courting his own wife, hoping to win her heart since he already has her hand. But how can this seductive rogue convince brazen, beautiful Georgie that he wants to be together…until actual death do they part?

You Can Find It At:

Title: My One and Only Duke
Author: Grace Burrowes
Publisher: Forever
Release: November 6, 2018
Series: Rogues to Riches #1
Pages: 442
My Review: 5 Stars

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes introduces us to the unconventional Wentworth family in this charming Regency romance with a Cinderella twist.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gallows...
One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he's declared the long-lost heir to a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the vilest slums, and now he's ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who schemed against him.

There was just one tiny problem...
Jane Winston, the widowed, pregnant daughter of a meddlesome prison preacher, crosses paths with Quinn in jail. Believing his days are numbered, Quinn offers Jane marriage as a way to guarantee her independence and provide for her child. Neither thinks they'll actually have a future together.

They were wrong.
He's a wealthy gutter rat out for vengeance. She's a minister's daughter who must turn a marriage of desperation into a proper ducal union. Are they doomed from the start or destined for a happily-ever-after?

You Can Find it At:
Bookshop
Barnes & Noble
Indigo
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
Book Depository
Amazon
Kobo
Apple Books
Google Play

Title: Wilde Child
Author: Eloisa James
Publisher: Avon
Release: March 30, 2021
Series: The Wildes of Lindow Castle #6
Pages: 384

Synopsis:

Eloisa James returns to the Wildes of Lindow Castle series with the next Wilde child who runs and joins a theatre troupe—and the duke who tries to save her reputation.

He wants a prim and proper duchess, not the Wildest of the Wildes!

Already notorious for the golden hair that proves her mother’s infidelity, Lady Joan can’t seem to avoid scandals, but her latest escapade may finally ruin her: she’s determined to perform the title role of a prince—in breeches, naturally.

She has the perfect model for an aristocratic male in mind: Thaddeus Erskine Shaw, Viscount Greywick, a man who scorned the very idea of marrying her.

Not that Joan would want such a dubious honor, of course.

For years, Thaddeus has avoided the one Wilde who shakes his composure, but he’s horrified when he grasps the danger Joan’s putting herself in. Staring into her defiant eyes, he makes the grim vow that he’ll keep her safe.

He strikes a bargain: after one performance, the lady must return to her father’s castle and marry one of three gentlemen whom he deems acceptable.

Not including him, of course.

You Can Find It At:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
IndieBound
HarperCollins
Target
Walmart
Book Depository
Apple Books
Google Play
Kobo

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