#TBRChallenge 2026: Tempted by the Highland Warrior

The Book: Tempted by the Highland Warrior by Michelle Willingham

Particulars: Medieval Scottish historical romance, Harlequin Historical #1098, 2012, self-published reprint edition 2024, Book 3 in MacKinloch Clan series

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Willingham is essentially an autobuy, and I had not one, but two copies of this book. A signed print copy of the Mills & Boon edition I picked up at an RWA conference and a digital copy of the self-published reprint when the author made it a freebie back in 2025. 

The Review: Honestly, I couldn't have picked a more perfect book for this month's Freedom! theme. Not only has the hero been held captive for several years, turns out our heroine is also desperate for freedom of her own.

Our story opens in 1305 Scotland, where 18-year-old Lady Marguerite de Montpierre, daughter of a French Duke, is set to wed the English Earl of Cairnross, who turns out is a very bad man. Those pesky Scots have been stirring up all kinds of trouble and the Earl has kept several captive in his dungeons for years - including Callum MacKinloch, also 18-years-old. Marguerite is awakened in the dead of night to the sound of a man's screams, and despite her maid begging her not to leave the tower room, Marguerite is soft-hearted and cannot ignore such screams for help. Who she finds is Callum, his back riddled with the marks of a serious whipping and a dead man (the one who was screaming) laying not far from him. Callum doesn't utter a word. Hasn't uttered a single sound in years, even before his older brother, Bram, escaped the Earl's custody and left Callum behind. The boy has all but given up hope he'll be rescued but immediately succumbs to the nursing of Marguerite. It's instalove all the way, and he's smitten. But the Earl spies the interaction between Marguerite and the Scottish scum, and would normally just kill the man then and there - but decides instead to send the prisoner south to another Lord who is just as much of a "great guy" as he is. 

It's not long after Callum is moved to his new torture chamber south that his brothers show up and burn the Earl of Cairnross' keep to the ground. In the melee the Earl is killed and they rescue Marguerite, who tell them what she knows Callum's whereabouts. They rescue Callum and head home. But it's not long before more soldiers show up and Marguerite, wanting to prevent more violence goes off with her father's men. By now it's too late. Callum is hopelessly devoted to her and she's in love with the mute highland warrior.

Marguerite is the youngest of the Duke's four daughters and as any Duke with no sons and only daughters is want to do - he's looking to make the most advantageous alliances he can through marriage. He quickly arranges a new match for Marguerite, another English nobleman who needs her dowry and an heir. Sure Daddy's first match for her left much to be desired, but this new guy actually seems pretty OK. Too bad she's desperately in love with Callum, a man far below her station and a man Daddy would never, ever consent for her to wed. Ah, but Callum. Despite the whole being mute thing, he's passionately in love with Marguerite, so off he goes to get her back and manages to secure work in her father's stables. Will these two star-crossed kids find a way to be together?

This is a historical romance with legitimate high stakes and believable cross-class conflict. The romance is very much instalove but the story itself unfolds over one year. I'll say one thing for these two kids, they stay true to their convictions and feelings for each other, even though Marguerite spends most of the story looking for a diplomatic way out of her predicament. Her three older sisters all made advantageous matches, surely as the youngest she can get Daddy to see reason. What she didn't plan on is her vile Aunt Beatrice who, turns out has been burning up the sheets with widowed Daddy.  Also, this poor dumb bunny, like Daddy Duke is just going to let her marry some unwashed Scottish dude. This is the guy who was like, "Well, the Earl of Cairnross really wasn't all that bad, those marauding Scots are a problem yo." 

It's a lot of star-crossed Romeo & Juliet stuff and unfortunately the whole thing takes a while to cook.  The first several chapters rely heavily on "telling" and also feature jumps in time on the narrative, including the brothers rescuing Callum!, only to be employed as brief flashbacks later on. Also, I never quite understood the deep, obsessive attraction our couple had for each other outside of some shared trauma. Marguerite has led a pampered life up to this point and Callum literally doesn't utter a single word until we're well past the halfway point. As a teenager I would have swooned over this (for sure!) but as a middle-aged woman I need more. 

But the conflict is high-stakes and it does pick up steam in the second half. Marguerite's new betrothed is a decent guy and not unsympathetic but frankly he's not keen to let her walk away (spoiler: not only does he need her dowry, turns out he's gay with no family left to speak of. He tells her, hey bring your lover to England and if he gets you with a boy child I can use as my heir, all the better!). Frankly while Daddy would be a more than sufficient villain, instead he comes around (somewhat - I mean he's still a Duke and his daughter still weds an unwashed Scot) and we're left with Aunt Beatrice, who is so vile she spoiler: spikes Marguerite's wine with an herbal concoction after she figures out she's had sex with Callum to force a miscarriage should she have gotten pregnant. A scheme Daddy knew about but it was all Aunt Beatrice's idea! So of course Daddy gets a pass. Ugh! 

But you know what? It's not boring. Also, and this cannot be overstated, I started and finished it in a single Sunday afternoon. I've never been a fan of instalove and I still prefer Willingham's Irish medievals over the Scottish ones, but given my inability to stay focused on reading anything whatsoever right now and the fact that I read this in a couple hours in a single afternoon?  Yeah, I ain't mad.

Final Grade = B-

Guest Review: Most Ardently Yours by Freya Sampson

Just in time to save the Bat Cave from it's dearth of fresh content, today we're hosting longtime friend of the blog, past TBR Challenge participant and guest reviewer Janet Webb - who many of you know from her writing at Heroes & Heartbreakers (RIP), Criminal Element, and as a longtime resident of Romancelandia. Welcome Janet! 

Is there a more famous opening line in literature than, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of … many romance novels, must be in want of a book boyfriend." Hold on—book boyfriend?  Pride and Prejudice is at the heart of Freya Sampson’s original, poignant, romantic story, which riffs delightfully on myriad Pride and Prejudice offshoots, like Colin Firth’s Darcy and Janeites descending on Bath. 

Once Londoner Zoe Knight thought of herself as a romance writer. She showed early promise, but her confidence withered under the hyper-critical analysis of her boyfriend and fellow writer Crispin Carter. During the years they lived together, Zoe was Crispin’s cheering squad, amanuensis, and a supportive Martha to his star turn as Mary.  But after Crispin finally “sold his book to a prestigious publisher,” he broke up with Zoe and turfed her from his flat.  Her life spirals downward: she’s broke, despondent, and lonely. Other than meeting her childhood friend Bianca every week for drinks and working at Cake Expectations, a café where the employees are expected to “dress up as famous fictional characters,” Zoe hibernates with her cat, Mr. Wickham, and escapes into a fantastical world inhabited by her perfect man, Fitzwilliam Darcy.  She and Bianca are passionate about romance novels—so much so that if you overheard their conversations, you’d think Edward from Twilight and Anthony Bridgerton were real people. 

Every romance needs a meet cute, right? But what happens after Zoe ducks into Baskerville Books, trying in vain to escape a deluge worthy of Noah’s Ark, is anything but cute.  She’s written the bookstore off because of its off-putting window display.  

It’s just that it’s filled with what my best friend, Bianca, and I refer to as “dick lit”: books written by middle-aged men, for middle-aged men. There are different genres within dick lit, such as “Action DL” (often featuring plots to overthrow governments, car chases, and superfluous women with prominent breasts), “Motivational DL” (with titles like 30 Days to Get Rich and Win the Girl), and “Literary DL” (which are overly long, utterly pretentious, and win all the big literary prizes).

Back to drowned-rat Zoe. “In a blind panic,” she runs to the nearest shop (Baskerville Books), and collapses “in a heap of swear words, sodden hair, and see-through cotton.”  Zoe perks up when she sees the beautiful interior of the bookstore. She asks, “Do you have a romance section?” “No.” What about Emily Henry? Nope. Marian Keyes? She goes on and on until she asks, “What about Jane Austen?” No, again. The rain has stopped but Zoe wants to know why the attractive bookseller doesn’t sell romance. Zoe and Nick Baskerville, a young man with striking blue eyes and a bedhead of “messy, dark-blond hair,” have at it, hammer and tongs. Zoe gets so exasperated, when she spots a dusty copy of Pride and Prejudice on a high shelf, she grabs it. When Nick refuses to sell it to her, she sticks it in her bag and runs out the door.

Zoe dumps the whole story on her friend Bianca and proceeds to get plastered.  She falls asleep on a double-decker bus on her way home. Somehow, she pulls herself together in the morning and goes to work, choosing to dress up as Elizabeth Bennett.  Unbelievably, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, in the flesh, walks into the café.  Madness and mayhem ensue. Zoe takes Darcy home with her to shield him from his terrifying mind out of body experience. He sort of adjusts whilst hanging out at Zoe’s flat, falling for Nutella and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.  Zoe hides away from the world, cherishing her platonic time with the fictional man of her dreams but soon enough, she starts to fret about Darcy’s sudden appearance. How did it happen, and why? Has this fictional time hopping ever happened before?  All the while, Nick desperately tries to persuade Zoe to give him back the ancient Pride and Prejudice she “liberated” from his bookstore. Seems there’s a connection between Zoe’s purloined copy of Pride and Prejudice, her state of mind at the time, and Darcy’s appearance.  

It all comes to a head at her bestie Bianca’s engagement party. Fitzwilliam Darcy, adopting the name of Will for the evening, accompanies Zoe.  As fate would have it, Nick Baskerville is at the bar, having a drink (he’s a college friend of Bianca’s fiancé).  Nick and “Will” get into it. It’s the stuff of fantasies—two gorgeous men fighting over Zoe. But reality can’t be ignored. Will the connection between the physical Pride and Prejudice book and Darcy’s appearance in the 21st century alter the plot of the book?  Unintended consequences rear their ugly head.

Most Ardently Yours turns romance upside down.  Don’t we all dream of the magic elixir that transforms our lives? Remember the cautionary tales of childhood fairy tales? What happens when the poor fisherman is granted three wishes? It’s Zoe who has the power to transform her life, if she but believed that. 

It’s a perfect book to read on the beach or curled up in an armchair—a book for all seasons. Most Ardently Yours is transformative and LOL funny. Brava Freya Sampson.

Thank you Janet for swinging by the Bat Cave! For more reviews from Janet, check out her work at Criminal Element and her GoodReads page. 

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is July 15

For those of you who were here for this reminder post last month, why yes this blog is STILL a Dead Zone. Y'all, The Day Job has just been a lot. For those that don't know, I oversee a Technical Services division. In layman's terms, I oversee the process start to finish of getting "stuff" on a library's physical and digital shelves for all y'all to check out. I also oversee the budget related to that process and with a fiscal year that ended on June 30, I've been neck deep in closing out those books and getting the budget allocated for the incoming year. A lot of librarians are exhausted this time of year because of Summer Reading. Me? I'm exhausted by logistics and math. And at the end of the day all this brain exhaustion means reading is next to impossible. It's Law & Order reruns and crushing candies on my phone. 

So yes, the July TBR Challenge has snuck up on me. What will I read? Will I get it finished? Who even knows - but I'm gonna try!  This month's challenge is set for July 15 and the optional theme is Freedom!

This was another suggestion that came out of my annual theme poll and there's a lot of different ways you can spin this one. Some suggestions to get you started include: a main character "escaping" something (suffocating family, a bad relationship, a terrible job....) or a story set during a period of change (pick any war, Women's Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement etc.). 

That said, I can totally relate to the fragile state of reading mojo - and sometimes you just have to go with the book calling your name in the hopes of finding something to lose yourself in for a few hours. If you just want to pick a random book out of your pile and call it good? That's OK! The goal of the Challenge is to read something, anything, that has been languishing.

It's never too late to sign up for the Challenge.  You can learn more about it, and see a list of who is participating, over at the #TBRChallenge 2026 information page.

Summertime Breeze: Unusual Historicals for June 2026

I'm in that time of year when The Day Job gets complicated and busy, leaving me barely functional and desperate that August would just get here already. It makes reading and maintaining this blog that much harder than it already feels these days and eyeballing my Unusual Historical tracking spreadsheet I was already exhausted before even starting to draft this post - but hey, good problem to have AMIRITE?!

We have 16 titles this month (2 of which are reprints) and appearances by trad publishers St. Martin's, Grand Central, Harpercollins and Kensington. Even though I'm old enough to remember the days when Harpercollins Avon was releasing a pile of historical romances every month, this still feels like a bonanza.  

Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti

Eccentric heiress Lady Ruby Ballimore has had enough of the Marriage Mart. After offending yet another Very Important Marquess―and imperiling her father’s diplomatic career―Ruby flees London for the holiday house of a glamorous (and better yet, absent) princess. Armed with a forged invitation and accompanied by her like-minded friends, Ruby arrives at the Cornwall estate expecting a summer of blissful freedom.

Instead, she discovers a derelict mansion and the most suspiciously charming man she’s ever met.

Former privateer and current con artist Captain Malcolm Archer has dragged his ramshackle crew into a new life. Posing as staff at a princess’s abandoned estate provides the perfect cover for Archer’s smuggling scheme (not to mention free rent). Everything’s going according to plan―until an unorthodox London heiress crashes the party.

But when Archer and his crew attempt to frighten off their uninvited guests, Ruby’s unfazed by insect invasions and sham sea monsters. Harder to ignore? The scorching heat between the rakish pirate and the debutante who can see right through him. As sparks fly, deceptions run wild―because in this Great Cornish Fake Off, the only thing riskier than telling the truth is falling in love.

This appears to be the start of a new trilogy for Vasti (Flirty Rotten Scoundrels), and finds our heiress heroine looking for a respite from the marriage mart only to discover the country accommodations are derelict and a con artist hero in residence, leading to rom/com shenanigans.

Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long

One disastrous night. One devastating man. One diabolical proposition.

Gabriel Marchand ruthlessly fought his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to preside over London’s most exclusive gaming hell. Few dare cross him. But when a young earl gambles away his inheritance, Marchand makes an enemy: a woman with wit like a dagger and the softest eyes he’s ever seen.

Spend a night in his bed, and he’ll call off the debt. This is the offer he makes Guinevere Woodville, the earl’s sister, when she blames him for her brother’s disaster. She’d rather die, of course. But when their seething enmity gives way to sizzling attraction at The Grand Palace on the Thames, his offer haunts them. Soon it seems a matter of not if, but when.

It's not long before Ginny is facing two stark truths: the so-called worst man in London is the best man she’s ever known....and keeping him would mean losing everything and everyone else she loves. But Marchand has one final card to play…and losing everything is a risk he’s willing to take if it means a chance to love her forever.

The 9th (!) book in the reader favorite The Palace of Rogues series features a wrong-side-of-the-tracks gaming hell owner hero and a heroine who has to pull her family back from the brink after her idiot brother gambles away his inheritance. The hero's answer to this problem? An indecent proposal, of course!

A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord by Shana Galen

Tamsin Archer might just be having the worst year of her life. And that’s saying something, considering her father is dead, her mother was maimed at work, and her family regularly sleeps under London’s bridges. But when her younger siblings go missing, Tamsin decides it’s time to step up and fight.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tamsin’s more than willing to take a few risks to reunite with her siblings. But while disguising herself to sneak into homes and steal from the rich, Tamsin is caught by Garret Kildare, the second son of an earl. Much to Tamsin’s surprise, Garret doesn’t want to turn her in. He wants to help her. Though Tamsin’s wary—she’s learned to never trust supposed “good luck”—the unlikely pair form an alliance, one that quickly muddles their class differences.

Garret knows he must be careful. Falling for a woman of a lower class could be the nail in the coffin for his family’s tenuous social standing, and there are eyes everywhere. Ignoring their attraction proves impossible, though, and soon the lines they’ve drawn around their partnership begin to blur. As more focus lands on Tamsin and Garret, they wonder if their red-hot connection means giving up everything—and everyone—they’ve ever known.

The start of a new series (The Heiress Hunters), a desperate heroine turns to cat burglary only to catch the attentions of a second son who wants to form an alliance. As they fall for each other, class difference raise their ugly head.

You Had Me at Heist by Christina Britton

Widow Iris Rumford has faced her fair share of hardships. Joining the Wimpole Street Widows Society has helped her start to heal—until she learns that her late mother's groundbreaking botanical work was stolen by her greatest adversary, who is about to publish the findings as his own. 

Determined to stop the thief at all costs, Iris refuses to let the dashing guard protecting the research threaten her plans. Even if he does tempt her in new, intriguing ways ... 

After a scandal cost Oliver Beckett his job as a Bow Street Runner, he’s spent the last year struggling to provide for his mother and sister. Guarding a lord's precious botanical collection seems too good to be true—who would steal a bunch of plants? But the appearance of a beautiful, maddening woman throws his hopes for a quiet future right out the window. 

As the two find themselves constantly thrown together, their resolve is tested—and so are their hearts.

The second book in the Wimpole Street Widows Society finds our heroine desperate to save her mother's groundbreaking botanical work from a charlatan, only to run up against a former Bow Street Runner felled by scandal who was not expecting a job guarding plants to take such a turn.

Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman

Despite an unhappy first marriage, Roger Berab always took pride in being a good father. When his daughter's reckless behavior damages both their neighbor and her home, he's forced to reconsider. To pay reparations, he agrees to provide lodgings until the repairs are complete. Unfortunately for Roger, the victim is the same woman with whom he foolishly once shared a night of passion ... and then scorned for her lack of status.

With her sharp tongue and disdain for fashion, Rebecca Adler is not exactly a community darling. What she does have going for her are her midwifery skills. That is, until she injures herself saving Roger Berab's daughter.

With her profession at a halt and her haven in disrepair, she has no choice but to accept Roger's offer of shelter ... but never again will she believe a man of substance lies beyond his pretty face.

Trapped in the same house, neither Rebecca nor Roger can avoid each other—or the passion still burning between them. But their time together has a deadline, and Rebecca no longer trusts Roger.

Can he convince her his feelings are true? Or is their tale doomed before it's truly started?

We've had Cinderella and Snow White, so it's only fitting that the third book in Grossman's Once Upon the East End series gives us Beauty and the Beast.  She's the beast in this scenario, but the hero is the one who did her wrong. I still have the previous book buried in my TBR, I need to catch up because this one sounds great!

Her Forbidden Irish Warrior by Michelle Willingham

A dangerous mission…

A distracting temptation!

As the daughter of an Irish King, Mairead MacEgan has dozens of suitors competing for her hand in marriage. And exiled warrior Balor Ó Phelan, the Demon of Éireann, knows he’s the last man on earth worthy of claiming it. But Balor isn’t a man who follows the rules and when Mairead’s brother is taken by the enemy, he agrees to help her find him. Worlds apart, he should have nothing in common with the forbidden lady, but the cold nights on the road are warmed by a shared passion neither can ignore… Yet falling for Mairead means going against the King, risking everything – including their lives!

This is the fourth book in Willingham's Legendary Warriors series that also shares some ties with her early MacEagan Brothers series. She's the daughter of a King who taps him, a lowly, exiled warrior, to rescue her brother, leading us down the path of my favorite medieval romance trope - a road romance!

A Deal at Dawn by Vanessa Riley

Katherine Wilcox Palmers, the Viscountess of Hampton, has lost custody of the daughter she secretly bore to Jahleel Charles, now the Duke of Torrance. The bitter court ruling was engineered by the duke himself, but now he is gravely ill. If he dies, Katherine, branded a scandalous bigamist by her late husband’s vengeful family, may never see her child again—unless she makes a bold offer...

Desperate, Katherine swallows her pride and proposes that she will nurse the Jahleel back to health, serve his every need, and keep up appearances, on one condition: he will secure her a respectable husband to silence society’s gossip. In private, she will be his mistress. . . .

But Jahleel has plans of his own. Pressured to produce an heir, he resolves to marry someone else. The hereditary blood sickness that plagues them both means Katherine can never be his bride again—no matter how fiercely their old passions reignite.

As dangerous forces gather, composed of those who would erase their child from the peerage for her mixed heritage, Jahleel and Katherine must confront the betrayals and deceptions that tore them apart. To protect their daughter, and fight for the future they were denied, they must jeopardize everything. Especially their hearts.

The third book in Riley's Betting Against the Duke trilogy, this is the book fans have been waiting for. She lost custody of her child thanks to him, and now he's gravely ill. She sees a way out of scandal, and all she has to do is be his nurse. Complications abound in the form of sickle cell anemia, and the fact that these two still love each other.

Maid for the Duke by Viola Thorne

May Carr stopped dreaming of her future long ago, content with her position as a lady's maid to her closest friend. But when one of England's richest dukes mistakes her for a lady at a masquerade, he offers her the deal of a lifetime: pretend to be his rich cousin for a month to test the intentions of his sister's suitor and earn an unfathomable sum, big enough for May to restore her mother’s only remaining heirloom into her possession. Except, May cannot keep the handsome Elias out of her head and out of her heart. As Elias' tantalizing proximity cracks her carefully curated façade and lights her body on fire, the entire ruse is in danger. But what will he do should he discover that she was an impostor all along...?

Elias Abigner, Duke of Southam is used to ladies pursuing him for his riches. But when a backwater member of the gentry wins the hand of his beloved sister, he knows he must make sure the match is true, for he won't let her fall for a ruse as he once did. Lady May is perfect for the job: recommended by a friend, charmingly witty and irresistibly beautiful, she is the one woman who could prove the truth of the pretender's affections. So why does she keep disturbing Elias' carefully guarded peace with her presence? Every time she's near, he cannot think of anything else but making her his. But dare he love a woman who would seduce another for money? And can he live with himself if he lets her go?

The first in The Fated Fetes series features a lady's maid heroine who agrees to a Duke's bargain so he can ferret out the true intentions of his sister's suitor. The problem, of course, is that these two crazy kids can't stop thinking about each other - putting the whole charade in jeopardy.

The Viscountess in Bloom by Kirsten S. Blacketer

Passion blooms when the viscountess falls for the gardener.

Hyacinth Corby, Dowager Viscountess Corby, adored her husband. When he died, a part of her heart remained with him. She mourned her loss while she raised their four children, but when her youngest finally leaves home, Hyacinth struggles to find purpose and companionship. She accepts her loneliness and tends to her flowers, pouring her heart and soul into her cherished gardens.

Oliver Blackwell returns from military service desperate to find employment. When he takes on the role of gardener at Viscount Corby’s country estate, he never expects to fall for the vivacious and passionate dowager viscountess. A dangerous prospect for a man hiding his heart as well as a sordid past.

Afraid to betray the memory of her first love, Hyacinth attempts to keep a distance from the handsome young gardener. But when a friend from her youth reappears seeking her affection, she realizes how much she truly cares for Oliver. Their passion blooms like a rare flower until a lifetime of secrets threatens to ruin not only their happiness—but end their lives.

Can they weather such a storm?

A widowed heroine madly in love with her first husband struggles after her youngest child leaves home (so she's "older!") and loses herself in tending to her prized gardens. Enter the hero, a former military man desperate for a job who becomes her "handsome young gardener." This is the second book in The Society of Wanton Widows series and needs to get in my eyeballs right now.

Where Mountains Pierce the Highland Heart by Paula Quinn

She saved his life and it cost her everything.

On a night meant for mercy, Elspeth Woodburn risks all to save a dying Highland prisoner in her father’s dungeon. By dawn, her home is ash, her family slaughtered, and the name burned into her soul is one she will never forget. Logan Cameron. For six long years, vengeance has been the only thing keeping her alive.

He should have died that night. Instead, he cannot forget the girl who saved him.

Logan Cameron remembers little of his rescue, only a fleeting glimpse of gentle hands and a soft voice that refused to let him die. He never expected to see her again, least of all as a lass with fire in her eyes and murder in her heart. 

Trapped within the unforgiving Highlands, they are bound together by decree. She waits for the perfect moment to strike. He watches her with a growing awareness he cannot explain.

Because beneath her fury is the same compassion that once saved him. And beneath his control is a pull he cannot deny. 

In a land shaped by blood and loyalty, where enemies are not meant to forgive, let alone desire each other, Elspeth must decide if vengeance will claim her heart…

Or if the man she swore to destroy is the only one who can reach it.

She saved him from death in her father's dungeon and as thanks her home is burnt to the ground and her family killed. She's not very happy about this and swears vengeance. Seriously, no subgenre does enemy to lovers quite like medieval romances y'all. This is the second book in the Where Heaven and Earth Collide series. 

The Very Definition of Love by Sophia Benoit

1816—Harriet Bancroft doesn’t mind that she’s on her fifth season with no marriage prospects, it gives her more time to write her dictionary of modern slang. Words are her passion, especially the exciting, filthy ones men have kept hidden from women for far too long.

Enter the ultimate teacher . . .

When Harriet accidentally finds herself in a compromising situation with the notorious rake Lord Alexander, she has no choice but to sort of kidnap him and strong-arm him into an elopement. This arranged marriage has a very particular condition—it will be in-name-only, leaving each of them to follow their own interests. For Harriet that’s her work; for Alexander, that’s women.

But love has a different lesson in mind . . .

But soon Alexander’s rakish lifestyle is not nearly as fun as spending time with Harriet, and Harriet’s beginning to worry that she might actually like her husband. Behind the closed doors of their respectable home, things become a little . . . complicated. After all, who better teach her the very thorough meaning of these indecent words than the renowned lover, Lord Alexander Stirling? 

Perhaps this marriage will teach them both a little more about that word they’ve been avoiding—love.

She's obsessed with words, working on a dictionary of modern slang, and lands in a compromising position with a rake who she then strong-arms into an elopement...as you do. She proposes a marriage of convenience in order for them to blissfully follow their own pursuits, which of course doesn't turn out the way either of them expected.  

The Lyon Dares to Dream by Elizabeth Heights

All Marianne wants is to provide a safe and happy childhood for her young son. Instead, danger stalks them both. 

Following the death of her husband, suspicious events force her to flee to London. But gossip clings and the ton will not accept a young woman labelled an adulteress, however unfair the allegations. With whispers—and strange men—following her wherever she goes, Marianne reluctantly accepts that she needs a male protector. Determined to secure her son’s future, she enlists the services of a renowned matchmaker.

Benedict is a soldier returned from France, with wounds both visible and invisible. He has long been the black sheep of his exalted family, but now his late grandmother has bequeathed him her country estate and with it the chance of the peace and privacy he longs for. However, he is in desperate need of funds and the lure of a big win in the Lyon’s Den is impossible to resist.

A marriage of convenience, decreed by Bessie Dove-Lyon, soon promises more, with sparks of attraction burning brightly between two individuals who had given up on love. But dark secrets and insecurities threaten the foundations of their fledgling relationship. And then a figure from the past steps from the shadows to stake his claim on Marianne’s future.

Part of the sprawling Lyon's Den continuity series, she's a woman in peril determined to protect her son and he's a wounded soldier in need of funds and with a country estate. I mean, what could go wrong in this marriage of convenience, other than the apparent danger stalking the heroine?

The Lyon's Sweet Temptation by Sara Adrien

Rosine Cassis has mastered the art of blending in. As a Jewish baker in Regency London, her survival depends on her unparalleled skill in creating pastries that are the talk of the ton, and her ability to conceal her true identity. Safe within the kitchen of the Lyon’s Den, she works toward her dream of opening her own bakery and living freely—until a hateful enemy threatens to shatter the world she has carefully built.

The threats risk Rosine's livelihood, her chance at love, and the legacy of Mrs. Dove-Lyon's gambling hell.

Sander is more than just a staff member at the Lyon's Den; he is a chess master with a brilliant strategic mind, and the Den's silent guardian, protecting those who cannot protect themselves. He has to guard Rosine and she challenges his control in ways no game ever has. But when the master of strategy finally loses his heart, is it a winning move or the ultimate sacrifice?

This isn’t a love story about clients of the Den—it’s the staff themselves whose fates hang in the balance. As danger approaches and secrets threaten to unravel, the romance between Rosine and Sander could upend everything the Den stands for.

With the Den under siege and their secrets on the brink of exposure, the baker and her protector must forge a partnership as heated as it is dangerous. To win their happy ending, they must stop hiding who they are and trust that their love is strong enough to conquer the hate standing in their way.

More Lyon's Den shenanigans, but this time it's all below stairs. She's a baker laying low working in the kitchens and he's a brilliant chess master tasked with protecting her, and ultimately the future of the Lyon's Den itself.  

The Lady and the Lost Heir by Fil Reid

Miranda, Lady Madeley, was married at eighteen to Sir Geoffrey Madeley, a man far older than her. He left her a young widow with three growing daughters who are all much keener on their horses than on meeting suitable gentlemen. Unfortunately, Sir Geoffrey neglected to provide for his family in his will, and his dutiful solicitor has discovered a distant cousin who is to inherit his title, the Windrush estate, and even the inheritance Miranda herself brought to the marriage. She's left with just an old farmhouse.

Captain Harry Madeley, late of Wellington's army and veteran of Waterloo, where he was an army doctor, has no idea there's a title of any sort in his father's family. He’s been badly wounded and is very much in recovery—in no condition to run a country estate. However, he decides to go and see what he's so unexpectedly inherited. He learns Sir Geoffrey’s widow has vacated Windrush, a house far bigger than any he's ever known.

Soon enough, he encounters the youngest of her strong-willed daughters and is invited back to the farmhouse, where he discovers Lady Madeley is anything but the woman he was expecting. Miranda, upon finding out the lost heir is not married, determines to engineer a match between him and her oldest. However, her daughters have other ideas.

And to make matters even more complicated, Miranda's not-quite-sane neighbor launches himself into the fray: he’s been waiting to claim Miranda as his own. With a duel between him and Harry in the offing, everything begins to look dangerous in the extreme.

The 5th book in The Mismatched Lovers series features a widow with three daughters and bare coffers and a former Army doctor hero who saw action at Waterloo who unexpectedly inherits her dead husband's title - a bit of a shock for him since he had no clue there was any sort of title in his family tree. Our heroine thinks, hey - he's not married, maybe I can arrange a match with my oldest daughter - only for her daughters to have other ideas.

Princess of Shadows by Susan King (Reprint)

A Highland legend, an ancient curse, and a dangerous love . . .

Scandal nearly destroyed Christina Blackburn when she posed for a provocative painting that shocked Victorian Scotland. Now, a widow and antiquarian for the National Museum, she hides her beauty and her past behind prim spectacles and cool reserve. Sent to a Highland estate to authenticate an Arthurian site, she encounters the infamous painting, owned by handsome, compelling Sir Aedan MacBride of Dundrennan, who intends to build a government road through the site even if the museum tries to stop him.

Laird, civil engineer, and avowed bachelor, Aedan is fascinated by the painting depicting a legendary Dundrennan princess, yet dismisses its curse, which forbids his line from marrying for love. When he meets the painting’s model, the prim scholar determined to halt his plans, she challenges his beliefs—and his heart.

Originally published by Signet in 2003 under the title Waking the Princess, this is second book in the Hearts in the Highlands series features a scandalous antiquarian heroine sent to authenticate an Arthurian site owned by the hero, who just so happens to own the scandalous painting she posed for years before.

Warrior of Fire by Michelle Willingham (Reprint)

The only man she ever wanted… was the man sworn to betray her.

Lady Carice believes she has only a few weeks left to live. Promised to a cruel king she cannot bear to wed, she flees the court, wanting to live her last days to the fullest… until a fierce Norman warrior looks at her as though she is something precious.

Raine de Garenne cannot afford distractions. If he fails to assassinate the king, his sisters will suffer the consequences. Helping Carice escape was never part of his mission…but every mile they travel together deepens their desire.

But when the moment comes to strike, Raine must choose between protecting his family…or the only woman who has ever set his soul on fire.

Originally published by Harlequin Historical in 2015, under the same title, this second book in a duology features a heroine who believes she only has weeks to live and flees a betrothal to live her final days in peace. He's the Norman warrior who has vowed to assassinate her betrothed in order to protect his sisters. He hadn't signed on to help the heroine escape, but well...here they are. 

Whew! I don't know about you but I feel like I just ran a marathon. I hope you found some titles to add to your TBR this month. What are you looking forward to?

Review: The Librarians

This was not good.

I know what you're thinking. The Librarians was written by Sherry Thomas, how can it not be good? 

Folks, trust me - this was not good. I can say with 100% certainty had I tried to read the languishing ARC I had on my Kindle it would have been a DNF. As is, I cannot believe I didn't DNF the audiobook. I have no excuse for this other than it was Sherry Thomas and surely it couldn't be this bad, could it?

Narrator: it was, indeed, that bad.

The story takes place in a suburb of Austin, Texas at a branch library of the Austin Public Library. The staff includes: Sophie, the branch manager, and lesbian single mom; Jonathan, a librarian, former standout high school athlete, former Navy man and gay; Astrid, another librarian who for completely inane reasons presents herself as Swedish, right down a fake accent and Hazel, the new library clerk who used to live in Singapore but moved to Austin to help take care of her grandmother after her husband was arrested for financial shenanigans. 

It's a couple days before Halloween and the library is gearing up for it's first ever game night (as in board games) and it turns out to be a success - that is until after hours that same night, two people are found dead. The first one is Perry, a British man who had a "situationship" with Astrid before he ghosted her and just recently returned to the scene of that crime, and another woman who had attended game night and whose appearance left Sophie (who has plenty to hide...) all spun up. 

The plot doesn't go anywhere for the first 50% of the book. What happens in that first 50%? Basically it's a big ol' character study, complete with shifting points-of-view, internal musings, and a non-linear timeline, complete with flashbacks. Boring. What it is is boring. 

Then at 50% the two dead bodies thing ramps up with enough police pressure that the characters end up sitting down, spilling their various secrets, and decide to play Scooby Doo, without the talking Great Dane bit. I think what Thomas was shooting for here was a Secret Lives of Librarians vibe, but it's all just so boring and clunky. The pop culture references are especially lumpy and egregious. Seriously, don't play a drinking game with this book and Game of Thrones references - you'll be dead from alcohol poisoning before you get to the final chapters.

This could work if you find the characters compelling, but only Jonathan and Hazel manage to elevate themselves to marginally interesting. Sophie is a panicked mess for the entire book and Astrid is so twee you just want to smack her into next Tuesday. Seriously, she fakes being Swedish - it's all just so...stupid. Astrid, girl, you know why you don't have any friends? Because you smell like desperation after it's rolled in a hot mess. And after a while even Jonathan gets to be too much. Look, I bought the former Navy thing but there's a throwaway bit near the end where we find out he was a NAVY EFFIN' SEAL. Y'all, if this guy was a SEAL start calling me Your Majesty because I'm the Queen of England. I'm not saying gay men can't be SEALs, what I am saying is Jonathan as a character carries himself through life with all the confidence of wet tissue paper. He barely carries himself like former military let alone a NAVY EFFIN' SEAL! 

It all turns out right as rain in the end and Thomas even gives readers two romantic storylines, which are nice inclusions but honestly a detriment to the mystery which hinges on a pile of coincidences. As I sit here typing this up I still can't tell you why I didn't DNF this. Honestly, that would make a more compelling mystery.

Final Grade = D

TBR Challenge 2026: Mr. and Mr. Smith

 The Book: Mr. and Mr. Smith by HelenKay Dimon

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, Penguin Random House Loveswept, 2016, first book in Tough Love trilogy, digital only

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I'm not sure I'd classify Dimon as an autobuy (she is an autobuy under her Darby Kane moniker) but I do tend to pick up most of her books. The details are extremely hazy now what with 2016 being 10 years ago (yes, I woke up this morning and chose violence) - but I think this might have been her first foray into writing an m/m romance, a romantic suspense at that. I was intrigued - but still left this languishing in my digital TBR for 10 years because I am not well. 

The Review: I made up my mind long ago that I was going to read something LGBTQ+ for this month's Pride theme and while I try to focus on my print TBR for this challenge, my choices are simply more diverse with options on my Kindle. I went diving in and unearthed this first book in an m/m romantic suspense trilogy that Dimon published with Loveswept 10 years ago. Y'all my TBR is a sickness, truly. However I am happy to report that even though I've done zero eyeball reading since mid-May, I read this story cover to cover in a couple hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's not perfect, but y'all it's a win.

Fisher Braun is a CIA operative whose silent alarm at his secret townhouse has just gone off. When he gets there he finds the place ransacked and his BFF and partner, Nathan March, already on the scene. Who is not on the scene?  Fisher's live-in boyfriend, Zachary Allen - the live-in boyfriend nobody knows about (heck his team in the CIA didn't even know about the second house....). Fisher is in the closet with his coworkers, although turns out it's not much of a secret. Anyway, it becomes apparent rather quickly that Zach has been taken and once Nathan stops busting his balls, he agrees to an impromptu rescue mission.

One small fly in the ointment, Zach isn't who Fisher thinks he is - it's revealed he's in bed with a super secret criminal organization that specializes in kidnapping for hire. This group takes a job, scoops up the victim (dead or alive - depending on the clients' wishes) and gets paid. Someone has hired this group to nab Fisher and Zach was ordered to "get close" to him. Fisher, needless to say, is pretty pissed off about this turn of events, but he's positively incandescent when Zach tries to sell him on the truth - which is that he's actually undercover CIA working to infiltrate this group and went rogue by getting close to Fisher in order to protect him. None of this is spoiler territory by the way, the whole thing is out in the open by the third chapter.

Anyway, bang-bang fists of fury and they escape - but Fisher and Nathan do not believe Zach, whose cover is now officially blown. It's not until they make their way to a safe house, the rest of the team shows up, and Zach's boss arrives that the whole thing spills out into the open. Doesn't change the fact that Fisher is still butt hurt about being lied to - never mind he was also lying to Zach. Semantics, AMIRITE?!

Stylistically this reminded me quite a bit of Dimon's work for Harlequin Intrigue. She doesn't waste any time and hits the ground running. It's an action movie, with that level of character development, in book format. Oh, the reader will get some character development over the course of the story, but it's fairly light in the pants, sprinkled in between gunfire, explosions and sexy bits. Most of the heavy lifting is done in the middle part of the book, when the entire team is stuck in a safe house together trying to figure out how to take down the bad guys. While there's several secondary characters running around, this middle portion takes on a claustrophobic feel similar to a snowed-in cabin vibe and keeps throwing our couple together to work out their problems and acknowledge their fee-fees. Seriously, these two dudes have baggage, but Fisher is especially pig-headed. The book clocks in at category length and that's a good thing - because all the mistrust and stubbornness would have worn me down to the nub had this been a single title.

It's not deep and it's not perfect but like any decent action movie it is entertaining. Also it does a very amiable job of setting up the second book in the series, which I plan on starting next. My reading mojo has been nonexistent and here's a wave coming along to take me out to sea. I'm grabbing my surf board.

Final Grade = B-

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is June 17

Hey, so you've probably noticed that this blog has been a dead zone of late - and I have no excuses other than 1) I haven't been reading and 2) Work is kicking my butt into next Tuesday. That's right ladies and gents - it's End Of Fiscal Year Time, which is a big hairy deal for the type of librarian I am. I've now been through this process 12 times with my current employer - which would imply it's gotten easier. Narrator: It has, in fact, not gotten easier. Every year there's some new fresh hell of unexpected shenanigans to throw a wrench in my plans for a low-stress, totally ordered Year End. Hence, my reading being in the toilet. At the end of the day I only seem to have bandwidth for Law & Order reruns and crushing candies. However...

The TBR Challenge waits for no librarian, especially when she's the hostess, and our next Challenge is set for June 17. This month's optional theme is Pride.

This was another suggestion that came out of my annual theme poll and June is Pride month. The obvious choice here would be an LGBTQ+ romance.  Or you could spine this into pride as an emotion - as in a prideful main character. Basically every Harlequin Presents hero ever written 🤣

That said, I can totally relate to the fragile state of reading mojo - and sometimes you just have to go with the book calling your name in the hopes of finding something to lose yourself in for a few hours. If you just want to pick a random book out of your pile and call it good? That's OK! The goal of the Challenge is to read something, anything, that has been languishing.

It's never too late to sign up for the Challenge.  You can learn more about it, and see a list of who is participating, over at the #TBRChallenge 2026 information page.