Review: The Wife Deserved It

I love novellas, but fully acknowledge and recognize they're tricky to pull off - especially in suspense. The author has to successfully build the tension, twists, red herrings, all the stuff that makes a great suspense novel and convincingly deliver it in a smaller package. A couple things working in Darby Kane's favor with The Wife Deserved It are her background in romance (where she wrote a handful of novellas along with short, snappy Harlequin Intrigues under her other name, HelenKay Dimon) and her background as a lawyer specializing in contested custody cases.  All this to say that she probably didn't have to go deep into her imagination to come up with the idea for this book, and boy howdy, it's a humdinger.

Reid Cavanagh thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. He's fit, he's handsome and he's also a narcissistic, whiny man baby who has decided that tonight is the night he's going to murder his wife, Anna. Anna, who has "unrealistic" expectations about family, money, and a white picket fence life who is now dragging him through a divorce that is all her fault. Because certainly it's not HIS fault. Well, he's had enough. He's been laying the groundwork for weeks and tonight is the night.  However once he's inside his former home, stalking his wife, cracks in his perfect plan start to show. It's not going exactly how he expected and then the bomb goes off. Everything Reid thought he knew, everything he planned for, yeah turns out Reid doesn't know shit. 

This story is only 117 pages long and the audiobook is a speedy 2.5 hours. To give anymore details or say anything more about the story is a giant honking spoiler. Half the fun is the twist Kane throws in as Reid is stalking through his former home, in the dark, with rain pouring down outside. The tension starts on page one and doesn't let up for the entirety of the story. And the dialogue? Fantastic. It's more than a little satisfying to hear Reid get verbally slapped over the course of this story because Good Lord this guy is the Literal. Worst. That's what I tend to like about Kane's stories - disgusting, vile characters tend to get exactly what's coming to them and no, they don't fail up. It's bloody refreshing as I do my 1000 mile stare into our current hellscape timeline. 

I received an advanced copy of the audiobook and a word on that edition - it's a dual narrator extravaganza and I'm old school when it comes to audiobooks (I started listening back in the days of cassettes - excuse me while my bones crumble to dust). I just don't care for dual narrators, which seems to be the trend du jour these days. Eva Kaminsky is fine but I wasn't that wild about Johnathan McClain. To be fair, the character of Reid is angry and indignant for the entire story - and anger is hard to read convincingly. McClain tries, but it came off sounding strained and forced to me. He's not horrible, so it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story and as with all things audiobook narrators - mileage gonna vary.  Still, I would have much preferred to read this one I think, but I wasn't about to look a gift advanced copy of an audio edition in the mouth, so here we are.

I really liked this one a lot and I think even folks who aren't wild about novellas should give it a whirl because Kane keeps it tight and tense. It was perfect at this length, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything, no dangling threads or I wish we got more of this or that. Just what the doctor ordered for my flailing reading mojo.

Final Grade = B+

#TBRChallenge 2026 Theme Poll

As a Romancelandia institution, the TBR Challenge has been around since the mid-2000s and I picked up hosting duties in 2011 - which means, doing the math, that 2026 will be my 15th year hosting. Where has the time gone? Along with all my spoons? A mystery to be sure. But yes, I fully plan to host again next year because, if nothing else, it causes my sense of duty to kick in and forces me to finish reading a book ever month out of the labyrinth maze that is my TBR.

I hope all of you are considering joining me again because if wasn't for you all, I probably would have chucked hosting a few years back. I was facing burnout because life, and then someone (sorry, I can't recall who!) gave me the brilliant suggestion to ask Romancelandia for theme ideas - and here we are.  I've taken suggestions for Challenge themes for the last several years and it's honestly been one of the smarter moves I've made. Y'all seem to outdo yourselves every year and outside of the occasional tweaking to make a theme more "broad" - every single monthly theme has been an anonymous suggestion coming in from the poll (I don't retain email addresses). 

So if you're interested in participating in the 2026 TBR Challenge, and hey, even if you're not, please consider putting those thinking caps on and submitting some theme suggestions for next year.  I'll shoot to the keep the poll open through November, with sign-ups for next year's Challenge happening sometime early December.

Fill out the #TBRChallenge 2026 Theme Suggestions poll.

Review: The Davis Deal

2025 has been a rough year for my reading mojo, and it's something I can't blame on the books. It's definitely been a case of it's not you, it's me. I just haven't had the spoons to pick up my Kindle and read. But, and here's the funny thing, when I do pick my Kindle up and start reading I tend to inhale the books in big, greedy gulps.  Case in point, The Davis Deal by Jennifer Hayward.  Hayward is one of my favorites in the Harlequin Presents line, so of course I said yes when I was offered a review copy for her self-published, single title debut. Imagine my delight when I realized it's actually the second book in a series featuring the three Davis sisters, women trying to forge their own identities outside of the spotlight of the reality TV show created by their glamorous Hollywood actress mother.

Scarlett Davis has always been the square peg trying to fit into the round hole of her reality TV family. Her sisters, Jensen and Ava, are so effortlessly glamorous, as is their Hollywood actress mother, now in recovery from her addictions detailed in the first book in the series. Whereas Scarlett was the sporty one. The curvaceous one. The one who always felt "other." Now, on the night that could save her flagging fashion design career, her insecurities come to a head when a rival goes in for the kill.

Scarlett and her sisters have been killing themselves the last several years starting their own fashion and design business, Scava. They had to work twice as hard to get folks to take them seriously in the uber-competitive New York fashion scene, but they were making headway, until Orelia Peters decided to swoop in and steal as many of their clients as possible. Orelia is young, gorgeous, and not above a good social media stunt. She also puts the mean in "mean girl." With Orelia chipping away at their client list, Scarlett is using the Met Gala to make headway in landing Cecilia Palmer, a hot young actress starting to make a name for herself. Naturally Orelia has also set her sights on Cecilia, unleashing all of Scarlett's insecurities. A pointedly barbed conversation at the gala has Orelia implying to Cecilia that Scarlett is a hack, a has-been, yesterday's news. Scarlett, desperate to bag Cecilia as a client and on the ropes then does the one thing she knows she shouldn't do - she tells both of them she's engaged to Rafael "Rafe" Sánchez. Impossibly good-looking, former footballer, now getting his new Manhattan Football Club off the ground, and oh yeah - her BFF. 

Rafe and Scarlett met on a reality TV cooking competition they did together a few years back, sparks flew, and viewers 'shipped them all the way to ratings gold. But while the spark is undeniable, they're strictly friends. Why? Because Rafe, while a decent guy, is a Grade A Commitment-phobe, thanks to Daddy's alcoholism and his parents' combustible marriage. And Scarlett? Rafe's a decent enough guy to know she's too soft and vulnerable for a non-commitment style affair.  So he leaves her alone, sort of. He likes her. She likes him. They quickly become best friends and spend a great deal of time together.  Now she's rushing across the room to him at the Met Gala begging him to play along with this fake engagement charade and like a fool he says yes. To be honest, as he's trying to sign players, bring in big name sponsors and generate excitement for his football club, there's also a little something in it for him.

As romance readers we all know where this is going, our friends are already half in love with each other they're both just too cowardly to do anything about it. Scarlett's desperation to save her business is what pushes them together in close quarters, and ultimately into bed. But whew, vulnerabilities and past hurts are hard to overcome, especially when they're learned at the knees of your parents. 

Hayward delivers all the glitz and glamor her readers in the Presents line have come to expect while delivering a larger story featuring multiple plot threads, characters and a slightly kinder, gentler hero (oh, he's still a jerk at times - but we're not talking Raging Alphahole). I got a real sense that these two truly were friends, even if they were both deluding themselves about how they really felt. Add to this mix the added complications of Mean Girl Orelia, Scarlett's ratings hungry mother, and the return of the father who abandoned the family and is now getting married to a woman barely older than Scarlett, and it all makes for a fun and emotional read. 

Presents clock in at around 200 pages, and this book clocks in at nearly 400. For the most part I felt the author handled this leap to single title well. The characters are interesting, the story fun, and the conflict compelling. There's a handful of very steamy sex scenes, well timed given the tension simmering between these two, and the pacing felt mostly right. It really only stumbled a bit for me when a Big Secret spills out in the final chapters - mostly because I wanted that explored a little bit more after the author foreshadows the revelation a little over at the halfway point. 

 It was really fun to be back in this world. Personally, I don't have much patience for reality TV, but there's something about it as a backdrop in a romance novel that sinks its claws into me every single time. Also, Scarlett is very relatable. A young woman thrust into the spotlight by her mother, who in her defense had "reasons" at the time, who wants to be respected on her own merits and talent but gets sucked into a competition with a mean girl that raises a lot of old insecurities. Girl, we've all been there. Here's hoping Ava's story is on the horizon.

Final Grade = B

Spooky Season: Unusual Historicals for October 2025

Another month, another month running late with Unusual Historicals. October though, she does not disappoint. Do you love all things spooky?  Well this is your month because the Gothics have come out to play. So buy yourself that second (or third...this is a no judgement zone) bag of Halloween candy, light a candle, maybe summon a few spirits (if that's your thing) and let's go browsing....

All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

WHO WILL SURVIVE LACKADAY HOUSE?

When Zeb Wyckham is summoned to a wealthy relative's remote Gothic manor, he is horrified to find all the people he least wants to see in the world: his estranged brother, his sneering cousin, and his bitter ex-lover Gideon Grey. Things couldn't possibly get worse.

Then the master of the house announces the true purpose of the gathering: he intends to leave the vast family fortune to whoever marries his young ward, setting off a violent scramble for her hand. Zeb wants no part of his greedy family—but when he tries to leave, the way is barred. The walls of Lackaday House are high, and the gates firmly locked. As the Dartmoor mists roll in, there's no way out. And something unnatural may be watching them from the house's shadowy depths…

Fear and paranoia ramping ever-higher, Zeb has nowhere to turn but to the man who once held his heart. As the gaslight flickers and terror takes hold, can two warring lovers reunite, uncover the murderous mysteries of Lackaday House—and live to tell the tale?

You know I'd harp less on my dislike of illustrated covers if more of them leaned into creating atmosphere and mood - and it's hard to not get drawn into that with the cover of Charles' latest. A young man trapped in a Gothic manor thanks to the whims of a wealthy relative wants no part of any of the shenanigans, only to find the house has untold secrets. Who to turn to? The man he was once hopelessly in love with - of course. I need to find my reading mojo because this sounds right up my alley.

The Dravenhearst Brides by Lindsay Barrett

“It’s very dangerous to love a Dravenhearst…even more dangerous, perhaps, to be loved by one.”

After a scandalous debut sent her into recluse, heiress Margaret Greenbrier returns to the Louisville social circuit for the 1933 season. Laudanum prescription or no, Margot is not crazy. She’s not. But perception is reality, and all the money in the world can’t buy the illusion of sanity. Nor, apparently, can it convince even the most red-blooded of men to get into bed with her.

Meanwhile, in the heartland of Kentucky, the Great Depression is sinking its roots into the Bluegrass. Prohibition has not been kind to the whiskey industry, and bourbon aristocrat Merrick Dravenhearst is feeling the squeeze. After a chance encounter with a beautiful heiress, sworn bachelor Merrick impulsively throws his hat in the ring for Margot’s hand. Just the right hint of lust, money, and quiet desperation…the best society marriages have been staked on far less, after all.

Upon arrival at Dravenhearst Distilling as a newlywed, Margot uncovers the legend of the Dravenhearst suicide brides—two generations of wives, both found dead on the grounds of the distillery. Her new manor home is teeming with ghostly glimmers of the women who lived there before her. And her brooding, beguiling new husband is unaware Margot has brought demons of her own to his estate, initiating a cataclysmic chain of events set to bring long-buried blood-tinged family secrets to the surface.

I didn't include it here but the subtitle on Barrett's latest is "A Kentucky Gothic Romance" and JUST GET IN MY EYEBALLS ALREADY! A wealthy heiress with a reputation for "madness" marries a man who desperately needs her funds because wow, Prohibition is a drag y'all. The spark and sizzle are there, but so are the secrets. A whole bushel of secrets...

The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House by Jenni Keer

Where bones fall from the cliffs and secrets linger in the mist, a village haunted by the past refuses to give up its dead... 

As the bones start to fall, the spirits will rise…

Norfolk, England, 1895: When renowned spiritualist Edward Blackmore receives a desperate message from his cousin Barnabas, begging him to come to the coastal village of Thistlewick Tye, his first thought is to ignore the request. Despite his cousin’s insistence that his wife is possessed by a malevolent spirit, Edward has no time for the man who stole his inheritance.

Lured by the promise of money, along with a genuine concern for Barnabas’s wife – who he’d once loved – he reluctantly travels to at Thistlewick House, only to arrive too late. Emma is dead.

Barnabas suspects there are supernatural forces at play. But Edward is convinced murder is afoot. As he begins to investigate, he finds himself drawn into the lives of those in this isolated and unnerving village, especially the beguiling woman who gathers up the human bones falling from the rapidly eroding cliffs.

Then he discovers that a travelling circus completely disappeared in the area forty years previously and no one is willing to talk about it. Perhaps not everything at Thistlewick Tye is quite what it seems…

 A hero loathe to help out his paranoid cousin arrives too late to help the woman he once loved. To discover the truth he finds himself drawn into the lives of the remote and isolated village, and a woman who gathers up human bones as the cliffs erode away into the sea (I mean, she sounds like fun AMIRITE?!). And what does all this have to do with a traveling circus who vanished from the area forty years ago?

Danger at Darkmoor Park by Syrie James

Hidden treasure. Murder. Mystery. Romance. All while snowbound at Christmas.

While trapped by a blizzard at a remote country manor house over Christmas, a school headmistress teams up with a charismatic doctor to solve a murder and hunt for hidden treasure.

But can she trust the man who has stolen her heart? 

Selena Taylor is thrilled to cohost a Christmas house party at Darkmoor Park, the beautiful Yorkshire estate she will one day inherit. But a massive snowstorm hits the area, and no one can leave. When one of the guests dies after giving Selena a cryptic clue to a cache of hidden money, she suspects that he was murdered.

Dr. Adrian Scott arrives out of the blizzard and he and Selena, fueled by a burning mutual attraction, become partners in investigating both mysteries—a thrilling hunt for hidden treasure and the search for a ruthless killer—while trapped with holiday guests who all seem to be hiding a secret.

When another guest dies and she starts receiving threatening notes, Selena realizes that she is in terrible danger, pursued by a relentless villain and involved with a man whose touch makes her heart race but who may be hiding a deadly secret of his own.

Our heroine just wanted to help host a Christmas house party and instead she gets a snowstorm that traps her guests, a murder, and a cryptic clue about hidden treasure. On top of that, all her guests seem to be hiding some sort of secret. Helping her crack the case? A handsome doctor with secrets of his own. This is the third book in The Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire series.

Beyond the Majestic by Juliane Ross-Clark

Atlanta, 1940s. A war widow at twenty, Abby Willingham is just trying to survive by working nights as a cigarette girl at the glamorous Club Majestic - where world-renowned swing orchestras keep the dance floor alive and corruption is concealed in the next room. Grieving, broke, and fending off her shady boss’s advances, Abby clings to her independence, the sympathetic ear of her fast-talking best friend, and the comfort of her late husband’s memory.

But when she meets architect Vince Vandenburgh III—charming, wealthy, and carrying secrets of his own—Abby begins to imagine a life beyond sorrow. As their paths continue to cross under the sultry glow of nightclub chandeliers, love dares to flicker... even as danger grows in the shadows.

Torn between the past and a future she never expected, Abby must choose: protect her heart—or risk it all for a second chance at happiness.

I know less than nothing about this book or author but it's set in Atlanta in 1946 and the subject headings over at Amazon include everything awesome I love that's not romance (they had me at "women's crime fiction," and "noir crime"). However, a hop on over to the author's web site touts this as "Romantic suspense at its most gripping..." and y'all I seriously need to find my reading mojo because hot damn!

The Sinner's Guide to Saving a Saint by Mihwa Lee

She offered her body. He demanded her truth. Both would require complete surrender.

Sylvia Addison had built her fortress from shadows and secrets—a respectable medical facility by day, an underground rescue operation by night. For six years, she'd saved desperate women from violence, forging documents and identities with the same precision she'd once used to survive her own brutal marriage. She'd learned to weaponize everything—her beauty, her wit, even desire itself—all while keeping her heart locked away where no man could shatter it again. Then Dr. Albert Raines arrived, threatening to tear down everything she'd built with his damning medical license and haunted dark eyes that saw too much.

Dr. Albert Raines came to Ravenwood seeking solitude, not scandal. The bastard son of an earl and a courtesan, he'd spent his life running from his mother's shadow, only to inherit a manor full of mysterious women and their maddeningly beautiful leader who threatened him with a gun and offered herself as casually as afternoon tea. Every instinct screamed to throw them out, to protect the reputation he'd fought to build. But watching Sylvia Addison save lives with fierce determination while carrying wounds that matched his own, Albert found himself wanting something he'd never dared imagine—a woman who understood that sometimes the greatest dignity came from choosing your own terms.

When a woman who uses desire as currency meets a man who's spent his life refusing to be bought, who will surrender first?

I've said it before, I'll say it again, I am utter trash for heroines who have "reputations." This is the fourth book in the Madams and Mischief series and when I heard of it's existence, I downloaded the first novella to give it a whirl - I just need to find my flagging reading mojo. On the subject of novellas - y'all words should still mean something and I'm not sure what's going on here because while this is tagged as "novella four" Amazon lists it at 300 page count. Could that be an error? I mean, maybe? Because the first novella in my TBR is listed at 112 pages.

A Viking Too Wild to Wed by Lucy Morris

Warrior, adventurer, charmer

…husband?

Egill Eriksson has had more wild exploits than he can remember. Now with his brothers settled, it’s time for him to secure his own future and finally wed! Enchanted by thrall Mildritha, Egill has a simple plan: free her from servitude and win her hand. If he can convince her he’s changed his ways…

The last thing Mila wants is a man trampling on her independence, especially one with a reputation like Egill’s! But there’s no arguing with their inescapable chemistry. Until Egill’s unruly past catches up with him and threatens the future Mila was just daring to hope for!

I mean, if you're not a Viking with a reputation, how good of a Viking could you possibly be? Our hero in Morris's latest is finally ready to settle down, he just has to convince the heroine that's he's a changed man. Turns out that's easier said than done.

Once Upon a Courtesan by Jess Michaels

Arabella Comerford always had too many dreams and desires to ever be happy with the forced marriage and staid life her cruel father planned for her. She sees her way out when she spies on a handsome gentleman engaged in elicit activities with a woman at Vauxhall Garden. Ultimately it leads her to her own path as a celebrated courtesan with freedom and money. But she always wondered about that man who got away and the startling green eyes that haunt her fantasies.

Silas Windham has been gone from London for nearly six years, after his father’s death caused a rift between him and the marquess’s legitimate children. Now he’s back thanks to the illness of his half-brother and unsure what to do next. Until he encounters Arabella at a hell and realizes she’s the woman who he once caught spying on him in a garden. The one he hasn’t been able to get out of his mind since.

Long-held memories and desires explode into a passionate affair that can only be temporary for both of them. But as their passions soften into deeper and deeper connection, it leaves them both wondering if two wild, broken people might be able to let go of the past and become everything to each other.

A trapped and desperate heroine discovers the answer to all her problems after spying a notorious rake in flagrante delicto. Six years later, she's a celebrated courtesan and he's back in London when his half-brother falls ill.  Their paths cross again and naturally things get very complicated. Again, trash for a heroine with a "reputation" and OMG, this is the first in a series featuring courtesans!

Olive Becket Plays the Rake by Kat Sterling

A wallflower with a secret…

Olive Becket has played it safe since the day her father died. So no one is more surprised than she when her suffrage anthem–an anonymous, harmless jingle–is a state-wide sensation. The public is clamoring to know who she is, but revealing herself could incur the wrath of her anti-suffrage landlord. Unfortunately, the devilishly handsome detective hired to unmask the composer is convinced she knows something. As if supporting her family isn’t enough, now she must outmaneuver a man who makes her shiver. If she misses a beat, she could find herself on the street. Or worse–directly in the rake’s embrace.

A detective under pressure…

Emil Anderson’s new detective agency is sinking fast. When a lucrative partnership is dangled in front of him in exchange for locating one low-profile composer, he doesn’t hesitate. To his surprise, his only lead–a perplexing pianist with spellbinding doe eyes–is immune to his famous charm. Unfortunately for her, Emil loves a good riddle, and he’ll track her until it’s solved. There’s only one snag–the more time he spends with her, the more protective he becomes. Now he has to choose: close the case, or open his heart.

An unexpected partnership…

Her livelihood. His future. The truth. All dangerously close to unraveling. How can they put aside their mutual suspicion–and inconvenient chemistry–before someone else pulls the strings? And what if the ending they fear turns out to be the beginning they never saw coming?

No one is more surprised than our heroine when the little jingle she wrote becomes an anthem for the suffrage movement. And really, who knew one little jingle would end up causing so much fuss? She's treading lightly around her anti-suffrage landlord and now there's a detective snooping around looking to unmask her. Now if she can only thwart him while not falling for his charms.  This is the second book in The Seattle Suffrage Society series.

Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure by Cerise DeLand 

She’s much too carefree, too lovely, too enchanting to be a spy.

His job is to catch spies. She cannot possibly be one—and he cannot possibly love her!

Clive Davenport, the Marquess of Carlisle, does not fall for beautiful women. But when the dark-haired sylph he glimpsed not far from his home last winter reappears on the beach at Brighton, he cannot escape her lure. Swaying in the June breeze, she is the picture of freedom and delight in the summer sun. Then she saves his little girl from the crashing waves of the Channel waters and constructs kites that dance in his daughter’s hands—and in his heart.

She tells him her name is Giselle Laurant, and that she is a French émigré with a work commission she must urgently finish. Employing her special talents as an illustrator, she does not reveal that her renderings of coastal English towns have a special destination.

So falling in love with dashing Carlisle creates problems. He will not disappear. Nor does she want him to. Her past experience with an abusive husband and French police are bitter. Yet she marvels at Clive’s kisses that are so sweet, and his tender regard so alluring, that she allows herself one night of surrender.

But when her foes track her, Clive is determined to save her, no matter her sympathies. No matter that he loves her to distraction.

The fifth book in the Scarlett Affairs series features a hero whose job it is to catch spies and a French émigré heroine, a talented illustrator, who likes to draw pictures of coastal English towns. I mean, she can't possibly be a spy, can she?  Dude, c'mon now.

The Lyon Returns by Kimberly Keyes

A widow starting anew. A gentleman dodging the noose. Will their pretense of a marriage turn into a head-over-heels love?

To purchase the publishing house of her dreams, new-to-London Gwendolyn Barnes must find herself a husband. With no desire to wed again, the young widow pays an exorbitant fee to the notorious Black Widow of Whitehall for a husband who, she assures Gwen, is almost certainly dead.

Then her husband, shipping magnate and aloof son of a duke, Gideon Devereux, walks through the front door.

After reading of his marriage to an unknown bride, the date of which provides him a handy alibi, Gideon returns to London determined to discover who framed him for treason. He’s content to allow his farce of a marriage to the beautiful bluestocking to stand. He only sees two problems—Gwen’s stipulation the marriage remain in name only, and an ungovernable hunger for each other that neither can quell.

Secretly falling for the brooding and seductive Devereux, a wary Gwen vows to avoid a repeat of her disastrous first marriage. And with his enemies circling ever closer, Gideon’s inner demons whisper that their white-hot passion can never ignite into a forever love.

Can this made-for-each-other couple discover new heights of happiness in each other’s arms, or will the echoes of their pasts tear them apart?

Another month, more books that are part of The Lyon's Den world. The heroine wants to purchase a publishing house but in order to do that she needs a husband. So she pays an exorbitant fee to wed a man that is most likely dead. It should be perfect, until it isn't. For you see, the husband isn't dead and his "marriage" just so happens to provide him with an alibi that wiggles him out of trouble. He's fine with letting the sham of a marriage stand, other than the fact that his wife doesn't want to consummate it. Oh and the small matter that someone almost succeeded in framing him for treason....

Dreaming of a Lyon by Sandra Sookoo

In search of excitement… Though Captain Simon Henry Huxley lost an eye in the naval war with America in 1812, it hasn’t slowed him down the past six years. Since his contemporaries are falling into parson’s mousetrap with alarming regularity—manipulated by Mrs. Dove-Lyon no doubt—and with yearning to return to the sea thrumming through his veins, London is a bit dull. But after a spontaneous visit to the infamous Lyon’s Den gaming hell one winter night, his life will change in every conceivable way.

Dreaming of freedom… Lady Hattie Anne Russell, youngest daughter to the Earl of Stonewycke, has been intimate with scandal since the day she turned sixteen. She dislikes rules, labels, or the ton’s boring dictates for proper ladies, and through it all she’s been bedeviled by dreams of an adventurous lion. Frustrated, her mother turns to Mrs. Dove-Lyon for help in marrying Hattie off before further disgrace follows; no stake is too high, and any Lyon will do, but Hattie won’t be tamed, and neither will she submit to marriage without a fight.

A matchmaker’s interference may provide both… After a hasty marriage of convenience, the newly wedded pair is forced to make the best of their reality. As the calendar marches toward spring, the two accidentally find common ground by bonding over the silliest of things. Secrets and dreams are shared, and emotions prompt surprising heat between them, yet an unexpected complication has the power to destroy what they’re building. It will take daring heroics and exceptional mettle to prove they are worthy of a love—and a life—for the ages.

Yes, more Lyon's Den - and look, I'm only human. The hero is rockin' an eye patch. Also I can't even begin to tell you the last time I saw the War of 1812 play any sort of role in a historical romance since the bodice ripper era. He's anxious to return to the sea, and she's a scandal-ridden heroine whose mother is determined to bring her to heel. Of course these two messy people end up married to each other because it would be no fun otherwise.

Ah, October. The month for spooky shenanigans, mysteries and secrets galore. Will this crop of Unusual Historicals that feature so much Wendy catnip unearth my reading mojo? God willing and the creek don't rise. What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?

#TBRChallenge: Wyoming Christmas Ransom

The Book: Wyoming Christmas Ransom by Nicole Helm

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, Harlequin Intrigue #1826, 2018, 3rd book Carsons & Delaneys trilogy, Out of print, Available digitally 

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Helm is a prolific writer and I enjoyed some her SuperRomance work before Harlequin killed that line (RIP). According to my records I picked up a print copy of this book at a library book sale back in 2022.

The Review: Y'all, I have zero reading mojo right now and this month's TBR Challenge snuck up me. I had originally thought to dig out a single title Gothic but time being short, and my mojo being non-existent, I went diving into the Harlequin Cupboard for an Intrigue. Also, and it can't be overstated, I find Helm to be a competent writer. I knew that even if I might not be wild about this story - it was at least going to be competently written and readable. Turns out it was more than that, this is one of the better Intrigues I've read in a while.

Will Cooper has been in purgatory for two years. That was when Bent, Wyoming's coroner, Gracie Delany showed up on his doorstep to tell him his wife was killed in a car accident (it's never explained why Gracie delivers this news instead of the cops - but roll with it. This is the third book in a trilogy that I'm reading out of order). The cops rule Paula's death an accident but Will is convinced it was foul play, especially when he finds out his wife was having an affair. But to the cops it's open and shut - so he starts snooping around on his own.  And Gracie? Poor dumb bunny Gracie - she agrees to help him. Letting him look at files and photographs, going with him to revisit the scene - all stuff that could land her in hot water if her superiors found out.  Well, Gracie has finally hit her breaking point.  She can't keep enabling Will. She's more than half in love with him and he's never going to be able to let Paula's death go - even after two years of amateur sleuthing have turned up nothing. He'll never accept the cops got it right. 

Will can't believe Gracie is quitting on him. He'd be angrier if he wasn't an island, a man on a mission. It's Gracie's abandonment that drives him back to the one clue he's found - buried in an old grocery list on Paula's computer. That's when he notices a pattern - so he goes to the local bar to talk to Gracie, who once again tells him to let it go. It's on his way back to his reclusive cabin that he gets in a car accident in the same spot where Paula died. Someone tampered with his car. Someone wants him dead. After two years with no threats on his life, why now? Then someone takes a shot at Gracie...

This series is set up around a small town, middle of nowhere Wyoming family feud involving the prosperous Delaney clan and less prosperous Carson clan. Gracie is a Delaney and Poor Dead Paula was a Carson. Helm does a reasonable job of getting newcomers up to speed without burying us in backstory that was likely partially covered in the first two books, and while the previous couples do show up (and play significant roles to varying degrees), they don't make nuisances of themselves.

The character backstory here in interesting. Gracie is the poor orphaned cousin, now nicknamed "The Angel of Death" because of her job, who survived a car accident that killed her parents. She bounced around for a bit, finally landing in Bent - with her uncle who can't be bothered with her, but three cousins who adore her. This dynamic felt a little weird to me since it's never explained why exactly her uncle could give two shits about her but it works in giving Gracie some edge so I rolled with it.

Will is the classic Guy Who Is Right But Nobody Is Listening To Him. Gracie's cousin Laurel is a sheriff's deputy and a straight-shooter, and she found no evidence anywhere that Paula's death was anything more than an accident.  However, when she discovers Will's accident was the result of someone tampering with his vehicle, she's not unnecessarily stubborn. Oh, she doesn't come out and admit she was wrong - she's more a "where's the evidence, let's find some evidence" kind of person. 

The emotional aspect to the romance is very interesting because Will is pretty much a brick wall from the jump and Gracie is essentially enabling him. She's also fallen into the classic girl trap of "but I can fix him!" She's starting to wake up to the fact she can't do that with the opening chapters of this story. Fair warning that of course she's a virgin and we have a no condom but it's OK I'm clean sex scene but this is the first one I've read EVER where it didn't completely annoy the hell out of me. Oh, I still hate it, but I hated it a little less here (she's on the pill, he had a full screening done when he found out his wife was cheating and hasn't had sex in two years). The dynamic between Will and Gracie is Messy AF, but Helm does mine it for some emotional angst and by the end I did think these two crazy kids could make it work.

Intrigues are all about pacing, and Helm keeps things humming along at a fast clip. I started and finished this story in a couple hours. I figured out where it was going towards the final third, but it was still an engaging read. I'm typically not crazy about family feud tropes (I realize how shocking this is, given my long history of loving soap operas) and while I'm unlikely to go back and read the first two books in this trilogy, some of the secondary characters featured in this story are part of the spin-off Carsons & Delaneys: Battle Tested series and a few of those characters did pique my interest. Which means it's time to take a deep dive into my Kindle to see if I have already randomly picked up some of those...

Final Grade = B

Note: For readers not crazy about Christmas romances, the holiday is barely a whisper of a mention here - mostly the connection is it's December in Wyoming. Also, Harlequin is getting sloppy with their titles. While there is an abduction, there isn't a "ransom" to be had here.

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is October 15

Our next #TBRChallenge is set for Wednesday, October 15 and this month's optional theme is Here There Be Monsters. Y'all I had big plans for a single title Gothic this month and guess who 1) came back from her fabulous Ireland vacation with a sinus cold and 2) once the cold wrapped up got shingles. Yes, f*cking shingles. When I JUST became eligible for the vaccine and had big plans to schedule that once I was fully past the sinus cold. Since my whining on various social media outlets I've learned we really need to lower the age for that vaccine. So many folks who got shingles in their 30s and 40s OMG!  All this to mean it might be another month for me to dive into the Harlequin Cupboard and see what Intrigues or Romantic Suspense titles might fit 😁

I've traditionally done some sort of "scary" or "suspense" theme for October and the Here There Be Monsters suggestion came out of my annual theme poll and it not only keeps true to the "scary" or "suspense" idea - but you could also easily roll in a Gothic, paranormal or a monster romance (freaks that I think y'all are 😂).  However, if you just feel like a pleasant contemporary or angsty historical right now - remember, the goal of this challenge is to always read something, anything, that has been languishing in my TBR pile.

Also, a reminder that it's not too late to sign-up for the Challenge (fun fact: it's never too late to sign up!).  For more details and for a list of participants, you can check out the 2025 #TBRChallenge page.

Mini-Reviews: Cozy (and Series) Round-Up

Now that I'm fully back to reality (mores the pity) from my fabulous two-week vacation in late September, it's time to catch up with reviews for books I read but never go around to blogging about. Given that the first book on our hit parade was finished before I went on vacation (and my memory ain't what she used to be...), it's time for another round of patented Auntie Wendy Mini-Reviews. 

Just Make Believe by Maggie Robinson is the third book in her Lady Adelaide series and one I finished back in early September. Off page between the second book and this one Addy apparently put the moves on Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter, advances that he rebuffed. Not because he's not attracted to her (which is what Addy thinks) but because of the fact that they come from two completely different worlds. This on top of the fact that her dead husband, and now the ghost haunting her to "make amends" so he can get into heaven, Rupert couldn't keep it in his pants while he was alive (and he died in a car accident with one of his mistresses no less) - let's just say Addy's pride is a bit hurt. So she decides to go to a house party hosted by her closest neighbors, Hugh and Pamela Fernald to take her mind off her embarrassment. Hugh, now confined to a wheelchair, is one of England's great war heroes - so when his wife is found poisoned in the conservatory it's shocking indeed. Setting her wounded pride aside, Addy calls in Inspector Hunter who is soon working the case.

Is there anything better than dead bodies showing up at an English house party? To my way of thinking, not really - and it's the premise of this story that kept me engaged. Hugh may have been a war hero but his wife had a pile of secrets - secrets that ultimately got her killed. The question being, which one of the house guests, servants or family members actually poisoned her?  Rupert's ghost, of course, shows up to help Addy, and that was my issue with this entry. I typically eschew ghost characters in mysteries because so often they serve as sleuthing shortcuts and while Rupert avoids that tag in the first two books, he's a big ol' giant shortcut in this entry. Enjoyed the premise, wasn't entirely wild about the execution.

Final Grade = B-

Farewell Blues by Maggie Robinson is the fourth and final book in the Lady Adelaide series and picks up right were the third book left off (which is a cliffhanger).  Unbeknownst to Addy and her sister, their mother, the very proper Dowager Marchioness had...a lover?!  A Duke with a reputation for being a big ol' stick in the mud, but a man has needs I guess so not so much of a stick in the mud that he didn't take a lover.  Anyway, the man has been shot dead in their love nest at The Ritz, and Addy's mother was found standing over the body holding a gun. Um, her gun. And turns out her gun was the murder weapon. The Detective Inspector assigned to the case sees it as open and shut so his desire to actually investigate is nil.  Enter Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter, who is recovering from injuries from the previous book so decides to take some time off so he can privately work the case.

There's plenty of suspects because the Duke's family is a veritable nest of vipers and of course Rupert's ghost comes back to help with the case, despite the fact he feels he more than earned his wings in the last book. While the mystery itself features a nice amount of twists and a variety of suspects, there's a lot of unanswered backstory left off page - namely what Addy's mother would have seen in the Duke, who was stodgy, crusty and frankly had a vile family.  We'll never know, since the author chooses not to address it.  Rupert's ghost provides more shortcuts here, but not as many as the previous entry and in the end he finally earns his wings and stops haunting Addy, to her great relief.  Since this is the final book in the series the author gives the reader 3 (!) epilogues to wrap up the various romantic entanglements that developed over the series.  These felt very much like an afterthought to me, like the author found out in the 11th hour that the publisher was dropping the series so hurry up quick and write some epilogues so we can tack them on at the end. Did I think they could have been better integrated into the story?  Yes.  Did I not like them? Good heavens, I'm not a monster. Who doesn't love 3 happy endings?  Monsters, that's who.

Final Grade = B

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars is a book I wanted to like a lot more than I actually did.  It has a dynamite premise, which is why I downloaded it in the first place. By day, Joe works a drab, dreary day job as a hotel accountant but by night he is the fabulous drag queen, Misty Divine, working at the legendary Lady Lady's club in London's West End. It starts out as just another night at the club but Misty, who is very close to her mentor, Lady Lady, notices that she seems "off."  When she goes to check on her after the show she finds Lady Lady dead in her dressing room, poisoned by a box of doctored chocolates.

Naturally everyone who had access to the backstage dressing room area are suspects and of course the lead Detective Inspector on the case is an asshole, although his female partner isn't all bad. There's nothing for it, Joe/Misty decides to investigate the crime themselves and naturally lands themselves in a bit of hot water as it appears the killer isn't afraid to strike again.

Like I said, the premise is dynamite and the world-building is pretty good.  Unfortunately the writing isn't. It lacks polish, is very tell-y and more than a bit repetitive - especially when it comes to Misty's internal thoughts and worries. I think had I been home at the time I started reading this it would have failed the pick-up / put-down test, but I was trapped on an airplane when I started it so I plowed through a massive chunk right out of the gate.

Things got a bit better for me once the coincidence of Misty turning up where she doesn't belong too many times gets her arrested, but ultimately she's sprung by the cops and ends up solving the case. Unfortunately while Misty is a fabulous drag queen she suffers from the same affliction that many straight cupcake-baking, knitting amateur sleuths do - which is she's a bungling incompetent more often than not. There's also a dangling loose thread left unaddressed, likely because it's going to be fodder for the next book in the series, currently targeted for June 2026.  I liked the premise and this did keep me reasonably entertained, but between the lackluster writing and Misty annoying me in that special way a lot of amateur sleuths annoy me, it's unlikely I'll pick up Book 2.

Final Grade = C-