Review: Unmask Alice

Like any self-respecting Gen-X girl, I read Go Ask Alice. Like a lot of teenage girls, I wasn't above consuming entertainment that leaned hard on tragedy and melodrama. Also, and this can't be overstated, if it was a banned book, I was more than likely going to read it. Which just goes to perfectly illustrate what book banners willfully refuse to grasp. Go Ask Alice is a laughably terrible book that should have faded into obscurity decades ago. It didn't for two reasons: Book banners and because people would rather look for a boogeyman to blame "the problem with kid's today" then dig deeper into what actually might be bothering them. 

Which brings us to Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson. This largely tells the story of Beatrice Sparks a evangelical Mormon wife and mother who had a hardscrabble upbringing and put the hustle in hustler. Seriously, you'd admire her moxie if she wasn't such a trash human being who lies like a rug and leaves ruined lives in her wake, all to feed her own sense of hubris. Do I believe in Hell? I'm not sure. But gods forgive me, if there is one, I hope this woman is roasting. 

Sparks was trying to make her way hustling as a writer. This was back in the era when you could bang out a few hundred words here and there and maybe make a few bucks. Nobody could accuse Sparks of lacking ambition, she took jobs for free and fabricated credentials along the way, that of course nobody ever checked into, despite her habit of contradicting herself. Through a series of happenstance she falls into the orbit of Art Linkletter, one of the most trusted and "family friendly" entertainers of his day. In 1969, his daughter, Diane, commits suicide by jumping out a window - and the claim is that she was high on LSD and/or experiencing a "flashback" at the time. In his grief, Linkletter gets his wagon hitched to Nixon's War on Drugs, and for parents, already confused and slightly terrified by dirty hippies and the counter-culture movement, LSD became a convenient boogeyman to hitch their wagon to. Enter Sparks with the diary of a young woman she claims she counseled (by this point Spark was passing herself off as a counsellor heading down the road to eventually concoct a PhD and putting Dr. in front of her name). 

Go Ask Alice takes off like a rocket, and Sparks is seething. Like an idiot, even though she didn't want to, her name is nowhere on the book. Young Adult as a genre barely existed and her agent and publisher believed (rightly so) that young people wouldn't read the true diary of a young drug addicted girl if a grown-up's name was slapped on the front cover. So even though Alice was a success, it just made Sparks hungrier for her moment in the sun. Enter: Jay's Journal. 

I did know about the Satanic Panic of course - mainly through the very high profile cases of the McMartin Preschool Trial and West Memphis Three. What I didn't know is you can trace back the entire Satanic Panic nonsense to Sparks "editing" Jay's Journal. Jay was a real life Utah boy named Alden Barrett who committed suicide at 16. Emerson spends quite a bit of time laying out Alden's story by talking with his family, friends, and reading a self-published book written by his younger brother. Alden was exceptionally bright but also troubled. Then bake in he's growing up in conservative Utah where everybody is expected to toe the line and after he blows out the candles on his 18th birthday cake, he'll likely be dumped into the jungles of Vietnam to fight a hopelessly unwinnable war. After his death his parents are naturally bereft, and that's when they find his journal. Needing her son's death not to be in vain, thinking that maybe his journal could help other lost and confused young people, his mother gives his diary to the woman who helped so many others by "editing" Go Ask Alice. And that's when Hell is unleashed for this family.

Sparks changes some names and places, but does such a shit job of it that it doesn't take long for people in the Barrett's small town to fit the pieces together. The worst of it is that while Sparks does lift some whole passages out of Alden's journal, she infuses what people now think of as "his diary" with a bunch of Satanic Devil Worship BS that is completely fabricated out of whole cloth. Alden was conflicted about the religious beliefs of his family and his Utah small town, he excelled at debate and like most teenagers questioned absolutely everything, but a devil worshipping Satanist who was sacrificing animals and taking part in bizarre midnight rituals? Hardly. 

Jay's Journal landed at a time when teen suicide was on the rise, and human beings, if nothing else, prefer pat, easy answers. It's more desirable than the truth, which is often layered, complicated and messy. Why are teens killing themselves? It couldn't possibly be mental illness, questioning of identity, misogyny, prejudice, social and political anxiety (the Cold War was a trip y'all). No, it's SATANISM! It's heavy metal music! It's Dungeons & Dragons! That's what's wrong with the kids today. Satan is coming for your children! Patently absurd of course, but humans love themselves a witch hunt.  We can laugh about the rubes believing in Satanic cults coming for children but look around you. Nothing has changed. Are today's kids alright?  Probably not. But what I do know Jan is their problems aren't because your public library has Gender Queer on the shelf. 

Nobody is going to confuse this book with a piece of hard-hitting investigative journalism. Emerson slips in a few F-Bombs and there are portions where he simply cannot hide his sarcasm. If anything I found him restrained. The Jay's Journal portion of this book would have had me writing IN ALL CAPS WITH MUTLIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS OMG!!!!!  But he does his homework. I have to imagine he gave Newspapers.com a serious workout, citing multiple newspaper stories that are truly mind-boggling, and it's obvious he talked to a fair number of people touched by Sparks' vile WTFery, and when he doesn't talk to them (usually folks associated with the publishing industry - color me not shocked) he states plainly that he didn't talk to them (usually in the form of "despite my numerous requests for an interview....").  

Which leads me to my last point. As a librarian currently in charge of overseeing a book budget, trying to keep physical shelves full and being price gorged into oblivion for eBooks and downloadable audiobooks, let's just say the publishing industry gets another black eye to add to their expanding collection, chasing a buck while not doing the literal bare minimum of fact-checking (seriously, a garden trowel would have uncovered most of her blatant lies) into Sparks' fabricated credentials. Which just goes to show that it's the same as it ever was. 

A rollercoaster of emotions, gripping and engrossing. Best book I've read so far this year.

Final Grade = A

Review: The Murder After The Night Before

The Murder After the Night Before by Katy Brent is a stand-alone suspense that blends chick-lit with dead bodies. I never could read a steady diet of chick lit, despite being the target demographic back in its heyday, but throw some dead bodies in there? I'm all in. This book was an experience, not always a good one, but an experience nonetheless.

The only way to describe this book is ugly. Molly Monroe is a 30-something journalist stuck in a dead end job writing for a tween girl magazine. She wakes up the morning after her office Christmas party to discover a strange man, fully clothed (and so is she...) in her bed. She's a hungover walking disaster hustling the guy out of her apartment, getting ready for work and making it to the office, naturally, late. And since she's such a hot mess she forgot to charge up her phone, so she hasn't seen any social media or retrieved any messages from last night. If she had, she at least would have been prepared. 

When she arrives at the office she learns the truth. She got rip-roaring black-out drunk at the office party then proceeded to barhop through London until she's livestreamed by an unknown person performing a sex act on a complete stranger outside a London bar. The social media response is predictable, and her boss sends her home for some time off, not being unsympathetic and offering to help her - in Molly's state it's entirely possible she was the victim of sexual assault. 

This would be bad enough for anyone to face. Molly is already spiraling when the hits just keep on coming. She returns home and finds her BFF and roommate, Posey, dead in the bathtub. Posey was the responsible one. The one who is a serious journalist, having just been promoted at work, who has her shit together, pays her bills on time etc. The cops arrive in short order and declare Posey's death an unfortunate accident, which doesn't track for Molly at all. I mean, it doesn't make sense. And since the cops aren't taking her seriously (I mean, duh) then it's up to Molly to snoop into Posey's life to try to find the truth. Which is no easy feat given Molly is still piecing together what happened the night before, but also turns out Posey was keeping plenty of secrets.

Despite immediately thinking of Molly as a hot mess, it was pretty obvious to me from the jump that Molly was "helped" along into her drunken state, likely with her drink(s) being tampered with. So she is a victim, but damn, she's still a hot mess. The first 30% of this book is just really unsavory and uncomfortable to read. Molly caught on a livestream giving a BJ to a stranger, social media behaving like social media, and very few people thinking there's anything wrong with tearing this woman to shreds. I stuck with it though and things really start to cook once Posey is found dead because then Molly is given a mission to discover the truth, against the insurmountable odds of nobody believing her because, well, see hot mess, live streamed sex act. 

The twists and turns then start to pile up and I was riveted. RIVETED I TELLS YA!  The author also explores grief in an honest way and has a lot to say about feminism and misogyny in general. Unsavory it may be, but it's an interesting stew all the same. 

But then, it happens. 

We get to the ending. Y'all I hate when an author doesn't stick the landing. There is some resolution to the story, especially in respect to what happened to Molly. We also find out who killed Posey. The problem with that? We just find out. We don't see that person being apprehended. There's no final showdown. We don't even find out what happens to the murderer. So we find out whodunit but we don't get the payoff. We don't get the justice. And y'all, bare minimum I need see the killer slapped in handcuffs or dead by the last sentence. While Molly ultimately pieces it together, the last chapter is literally a flashback scene to Posey's death. Shit, for all I know this bad person is still out there living their best life and now I just want to light everything on fire.

So what was hovering around a B- (seriously, the beginning is just really unpleasant and unsavory), ends up going down several notches, despite the middle portion when I couldn't tear myself away. I keep reading Brent because there's something about her voice and exploration of feminist themes that intrigue me, but I'm still waiting for her to hit all her beats and stick her landings.

Final Grade = C-

Review: Such a Perfect Family

It's pretty well documented at this point that I just don't do paranormals (Gothics notwithstanding). I'd never say paranormals are "stupid" or "terrible" nor would I question any reader who loves them or authors who write them.  Despite having read a few over the years, they're just not my bag. This is a longstanding thing for me - I was the girl growing up who couldn't be bothered with any story that had a whiff of fantasy in it. But Nancy Drew? Solving mysteries? All in. So my experience with Nalini Singh's work is entirely wrapped up in her suspense novels, and while she has stuck to one central theme in her entire suspense oeuvre thus far (more on that in a minute), she concocts the type of slow-burn character driven stories that tend to suck me in in record time. Such a Perfect Family was one heck of a ride.

Tavish Advani is son of a famous Hollywood actress, a borderline savant in the world of finance (he's made people a lot of money, including himself) and forty-three days ago he impulsively married Diya Prasad. Diya is a pampered, sheltered daughter of Indian doctors from New Zealand, on a bachelorette party trip to the States when she meets Tavish and it is love at first sight. Bingo-bango, quickie Las Vegas wedding and now Tavish has relocated to New Zealand to settle down into a new life with his wife and try to win over the disapproving in-laws. Even though they're already married, the official story is Tavish and Diya are "engaged" and plans are underway for a lavish Indian wedding ceremony. One morning Tavish heads to town to pick up wedding cake samples. When he returns he discovers the Prasad home engulfed in flames, Diya and her sister-in-law with multiple stab wounds, gravely injured, and his brother-in-law and Diya's parents nowhere to be found, presumably dead in the inferno. 

House fires happen, but two women found outside said home with multiple stab wounds, both now in comas at the local hospital are harder to explain. The cops are immediately on the scene and it doesn't take long for them to start sniffing around Tavish, despite the fact that he has (somewhat) of an alibi - he wasn't home at the time the fire erupted, albeit he could have set the whole thing in motion prior. Also, there's the teensy tiny issue that Tavish left Los Angeles with not one dead woman in his past - but three. All wealthy, older women and Tavish benefited from each and every one of their mysterious deaths. Despite his wife lying in the hospital, Tavish knows he's very close to being prime suspect #1, which means he's going to have to do his own investigating because his experience has taught him cops always look for the easiest explanation, even when it's wrong. And the more he digs into the lives of his in-laws? The more he realizes his wife's perfect family is anything but.

Singh takes her time setting up this story which opens up with a bang, Tavish returning to his in-laws home to find it ablaze. Then it's a series of shifting timelines as Singh peels back the layers on her (somewhat) unreliable narrator. Tavish's mother is a Movie Star (in capital letters) but any maternal instincts started and stopped with his oldest brother. Tavish was left with Mommy Dearest.  Hence his attraction to older women - even he recognizes it as hopelessly cliché. There's a cop in Los Angeles who is convinced Tavish is a serial killer and Tavish's father who has spent his life making up for his wife's shortcomings with their second child. But he's desperately in love with Diya and thinks it's all behind him, until it's not.  Seriously this guy doesn't go looking for trouble, it just seems to find him. 

While there's a cop in Los Angeles gunning for him, there's a cop in New Zealand who isn't quite so sure, and the whole thing ends up twisting and turning, spinning out to a conclusion that makes my soap opera loving heart sing. Singh may not be able to leave obsession alone as a theme in her suspense novels, but there's a good reason for that. Human beings are rather simple creatures and our motives for killing don't tend to be overly complex (greed, power, jealousy, rage etc.).  I'd argue it's only natural for Singh to keep exploring obsession in her novels, it's fascinating, there's a lot to unpack, and you can twist it around enough that it never feels like you're repeating yourself. And this one is a humdinger. Good Lord is this family screwed up. 

It all turns out somewhat right as rain in the end. I mean, our bad guy is caught but the family is decimated, and people are still dead. But it's a satisfying conclusion to a story that kept me riveted from the first to last page. I typically reserve A grades for things I'm desperate to find time to reread, and I'm not sure this one hits that threshold, but hot damn, it's a good 'un.

Final Grade = B+

Summer Picnic Basket: Unusual Historicals for July 2026

Normally when I draft my monthly Unusual Historicals post I plan an introductory paragraph where I might mention what's happening around the Bat Cave (work is still busy but I'm past end of fiscal year nonsense) or maybe an observation about romance publishing in general. Look folks, we don't have time for that this month. Why? Because this month's post features 22 titles. Yes, TWENTY-FRICKIN'-TWO. So let's get down to it.

Pride Comes Before a Fall by Virginia Heath

Despite his many responsibilities, there is nothing Leopold Sloane, the 11th Duke of Debden, takes more seriously than the safety of those he loves. When one of his sisters is injured at a protest rally, he drags his family to Bath for the summer to keep his reckless and rebellious siblings out of harm’s way. The only flaw in his plan is his overwhelming but inexplicable attraction to the new chaperone he has hired to watch out for them. An outspoken conundrum of a woman who soon causes him more trouble than both his sisters combined...but who calls to his soul regardless.

From the moment Portia Kendall read her first revolutionary pamphlet beneath her bedcovers at Miss Prentice’s School for Girls, she realized that her true calling was to make the world a fairer place for the masses downtrodden by the aristocracy. A calling that led her to Equitas, a radical newspaper that champions reform. But as Portia discovers, writing doesn’t pay the bills. To make a living, she must push aside her principles and serve the very people she criticizes weekly in her column. A temporary position as a chaperone in the home of a pompous duke seems like the perfect way to earn enough to follow her heart. Unfortunately, the duke who hires her seems to be more dashing and noble than pompous and soon begins to call to her heart too—as much as she tries to deny it. But dare she risk her principles for love or will her pride always come before a fall?

More romcom shenanigans in this third book in Heath's Miss Prentice's Protegees series.  One of his sisters injured at a protest rally is all it takes for our hero to haul his rebellious siblings to Bath for the summer. Small fly in the ointment however - he hires the heroine as their new chaperone, not knowing that she also writes for a radical newspaper. Sparks, inevitably, fly.

Caroline's Courtesan by Jess Michaels

Caroline Ashfield has led the life familiar to many a woman of her station. Married off for social and political connection to a much older man, she led a life of privilege, but also of emotional discomfort. Now, though, her husband has been dead many years and she has enjoyed the freedom being a widow of a certain age has granted her. She can do what she wants, read what she enjoys and support her scandalous nieces to her heart’s desire. Everything is perfect. Well, except for one her constant thoughts about celebrated courtesan Simone Stanford.

Simone is also an independent woman, though certainly from a very different path, and she would tell everyone in her orbit that she wants nothing more than exactly what she has. Her playful interactions with the very proper Caroline were at first just for fun, but somehow they’ve become much more serious and left ripples in their wake she never expected. Now something is awakening between them and it feels like it could change everything for both of them.

An escalating passion and a secret affair are one thing, but when a moment arrives when they could find true happiness will they embrace it? Or let the pains of the past and fears of the future snatch true love from their arms?

Two heroines, both having earned their independence by divergent means. What happens when the proper widow falls for a courtesan? Complications, no doubt. This is the fourth book in The Comerford Courtesans series.

From Rogue to Viscount by Lotte R. James

A forbidden attraction

To the mysterious valet…

With nowhere else to go, penniless Sofia Guaro has been the guest of her brother’s grand British in-laws, feeling stifled. Her only escape is sneaking out to explore London with the family valet—broodingly handsome Josiah Meadows…

Josiah gets drawn back into his criminal past when he is forced to take one last mission to retrieve a painting from Cornwall—and Sofia won’t be left behind! He must resist his beguiling accomplice. After all, having sworn never to return to his own aristocratic family, can he ever be the man she deserves?

A heroine with nowhere else to go falls into the orbit of a valet with a secret criminal past. What happens when she gets sucked into his last mission to "retrieve" a painting?  Part of the author's The Ladies of Scandal series, set in the 1830s with Gothic overtones.

Wedded to Her Enemy Knight by Lissa Morgan

A house divided…

A passion ignited!

Outraged when Yorkist knight Edmund Deverell stakes his centuries-old claim on her beloved home, Lancastrian maiden Isobel Calvert won’t leave without a fight! But her best defense against destitution is to propose marriage—to her enemy!

After the pain of his first union, Edmund had never planned to wed again, his only allegiance now is to the House of York. Still, he can’t deny a practical marriage will secure his legacy and leave his emotions intact. But days of verbal sparring with his new wife lead to nights of unforgettable passion, until Edmund finds his loyalties wavering dangerously… 

Book two in a duet set in the early years of The War of the Roses. Yorkist knight returns to claim his family home, only to find a Lancastrian maiden in residence. And wouldn't you know it? She's not keen to leave. Well, bother.

His Awful Grace by Anne Knight

In 1887 London, the elite of Mayfair prosper while the poor of St. Giles die. Despite being an aristocratic wife, Ellen Grenfall fights in the bowels of London to save the lives of premature infants and their mothers with her fledgling medical dispensary--a cause close to her heart after her own infant loss.

Eight years earlier, Mark Grenfall joined the Royal Navy to escape his struggling marriage. But when he’s suddenly called by his family to provide an heir, he’s forced to return to London and the woman he abandoned—discovering that she is nothing like the giggling debutante he left behind. The real Ellen is a passionate, wildly intelligent woman pursuing neonatology, and he’s just the man who underestimated her.

Ellen has no use for a husband who abandoned her, especially not with a medical practice to keep her busy, but Mark's attention and support of her medical research sparks a new connection. Yet unresolved grief and a duty to produce an heir that neither feels capable of meeting endangers their fragile reunion.

Ellen must decide if she's willing to open her heart to her husband—and the possibility of new life—and try again.

After her own child dies, our heroine works to save premature infants and their mothers who lack the resources of her own aristocratic set. Throwing a wrench in the works is the return of her husband, who joined the Royal Navy to escape a marriage that wasn't going all that well. Needless to say, the wife he left behind has changed and isn't all that happy to see him.

The Spy and the Nightingale by Lea Hollis

Driven by duty . . .

British spy Nathaniel Blackmore has one objective: find and apprehend an Englishman suspected of treason in France in the tumultuous year after the Napoleonic Wars conclude. 

Intrepid Scottish widow Isobel Graham, grieving the loss of her husband at Waterloo, is determined to find her missing younger sister. Her desperate search leads her to Paris on the fringes of Nathaniel’s investigation.

Entangled by choice . . .

Posing as lovers to infiltrate Paris’s most dissolute society, they plunge into ever-widening circles of vice, from an opulent gambling hall to a club catering to debauched desires. In a perilous world of shadows and lies, genuine attraction is a complication.

Compelled by desire . . .

Fueled by danger, their charade as lovers ignites into incendiary passion and something unexpectedly tender . . . except their relationship isn’t meant to last beyond the mission’s end.

He's a spy looking for a traitor and she's a widow trying to find her missing sister. To achieve both their goals they decide to pose as lovers while traipsing through Parisian society. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

The Laudanum Ladies' Society by Elisabeth Hobbes

In a London that insists women remain quiet, dutiful, and dull, two unlikely conspirators discover a secret that awakens everything society tells them to suppress…

Jenny Rosewood – single, clever and nearly thirty, heaven forbid – has long disguised herself as a man to attend nighttime lectures and chase knowledge forbidden to her. But when an accidental alteration of her uncle’s sleeping draught unleashes a dizzying rush of freedom, Jenny sees an opportunity.

Together with Gwen Walters, a pharmacist’s wife hidden in her husband’s shadow, they form a covert sisterhood where London’s ladies gather to indulge in their secret tincture under the guise of afternoon tea.

Soon, society's most proper ladies are sipping their way toward inspiration, rebellion and risk.

Because once women taste freedom, no amount of decorum can force it back in the bottle.

Hobbes has a background in romance and reviews seem to indicate this is what we'd call "romantic elements." Jenny is a 30-year-old spinster, and a lesbian, while Gwen is in an unhappy marriage that has slowly stripped away her own identity. When Jenny discovers an unexpected side-effect to her uncle's sleeping tonic, they decide to go into business and shake up society ladies. These two apparently meet matches, not with each other. Lots of grey in this back cover blurb, which intrigues me quite a bit.

The Housekeeper's War by Elaine Johns

She lost everything to war. But can she risk her heart again?

Widowed and grieving, Eileen Bentley leaves bomb-scarred London for the rugged coast of Cornwall, determined to start over as housekeeper to her dear late husband's brother.

But the war is never far behind. As air raids reach the docks of Falmouth and Eileen takes up fire-watching duty once more, the past refuses to loosen its hold - her husband's memory shadowing every step.

Then she meets Captain Andrew Harvey, a man marked by loss, whose quiet strength begins to break through her sorrow. As danger closes in and old loyalties pull tight, Eileen must can she open her heart again, or will grief keep her bound to what she's lost?

More romantic elements, this strikes me as one of those historical sagas that are quite popular in the UK and Europe but don't always catch fire here in the States. A grieving widow who lost everything in the war, leaves a bomb-ravaged London to be her brother-in-law's housekeeper. Naturally she meets someone new, only to have danger and their pasts throwing up road blocks. 

Honor Unbound by Alyson Chase

A dying stranger on her doorstep. A bloodstained letter with her initials. And the real scandal happening downstairs.

London, 1821

When a bloodstained stranger dies on Lady Mary Cavindish’s doorstep, the eccentric widow is thrust into a new mystery. In his hand is a crumpled letter bearing what appear to be her own initials—yet she has never met the man.

Determined to discover why a dying manufacturer of tinned goods sought her out with his final breath, Lady Mary launches her own discreet investigation. Assisting her are her clever maid, Marie, and her loyal under-butler, Brett.

As the unlikely trio delves into the victim’s tangled life, they uncover a nest of suspects: a bitter wife conducting her own affair, a grasping mistress, a vengeful business rival, and a hot-tempered brother bent on defending his sister’s honor. But the deeper they dig, the more dangerous the truth becomes.

Meanwhile, Marie’s quick wit clashes with Brett’s quiet determination. Though she insists she has no interest in the steadfast under-butler, Brett has already decided Marie is the woman for him—and he refuses to be ignored while they hunt a killer together.

Yes, it's the third book in the Lady Mary Mysteries BUT, we get a below stairs romance between a maid and an under-butler. Y'all, I am trash for below stairs romances, even if they are a secondary plot thread. That's enough for me!

Garden of Thorns by Mae Moore

Wanted – Respectable gentleman to wed an American heiress. No rakehells.

Myrtle Gray and her sisters have but one job. To aid in the expansion of their family’s assets, prestige, and influence by securing husbands with respectable titles. But Myrtle is not sure whether or not she can. With five years on the American marriage mart behind her, how can she be sure she’ll have more luck in London than she’s had in Texas?

Despite receiving the queen’s blessing, she’s had no suitors come forth. Not for her, anyway, and as such, Myrtle has found herself on the verge of spinsterhood. Enter Viscount Fredericks. By all accounts, he’s not worthy of her interest. He is rakish, with rumors abounding that he’s more interested in bedding women than wedding anyone. Add to that his issue of dubious parentage, and he is out of the question. At least he should be…

Samuel Fredericks is in a bind. Some cowards amongst his cousins have challenged his right to his inheritance. He must find someone to wed with haste. Miss Gray, his attractive new American neighbor, is intriguing, but she deserves better than him, a fact he knows from the moment he lays eyes on her.

When a murder victim lands at their feet, will they find the killer before they become the primary suspects? Only time shall tell the tale… but working together to catch a killer forces them closer, and their passion for one another only burns brighter.

From what I can tell this is a debut and yes, the publisher is marketing it as a mystery - but y'all, I'm intrigued. Texas heiress who can't make a match even with Daddy's money makes the move to London, only to have the same amount of luck (as in, none) there. Enter our rakehell hero, who really does need to marry, but recognizes she's too good for him - well, that is until a murder victim lands at their feet. Nothing for it, they'll need to work together to escape becoming the primary suspects.

Little Miss Nobody by Ava Devlin

Liberty "Libba" Lennox was born to perform.

An actress by trade, she can transform herself into anyone the stage demands. But when her brother's dangerously charming best friend drags her into his latest scheme, Libba finds herself cast in the most demanding role of her career: Princess Xandine of the Bedouai, a glittering foreign fiancée whose fortune is large enough to tempt and manipulate the powerful Templeton-Rath shipping dynasty.

Jasper Townsend has been planning his big break since childhood.

A Brighton shipyard boy with big dreams and no fortune, he's finally found his chance: the Templeton-Raths are coming to town, and their plain but practical heiress daughter needs a husband. Jasper knows he can’t compete with every hopeful swain in Brighton, but if he’s already "engaged" to someone glamorous enough to set aside for true love, he might have an incredible future on the horizon. It's the perfect scheme, isn’t it? He just needs his best mate’s little sister to help out. Just a little favor. Just a temporary, a brilliant diversion. Absolutely nothing could go wrong.

But Libba has never played small.

With every staged kiss, every invented accent, every dazzling performance, Libba reminds Jasper how incredible she is. And how impossible it would be to ever want someone else.

Soon, the man who meant to discard her is improvising a future that doesn't work without her. And the actress who spent her whole life becoming other people must decide whether the greatest role she'll ever play is the one where she finally gets to be herself.

The second book in The Starling Legacy. He's a former shipyard boy with big dreams who targets an heiress for his future wife. What better way to convince her to marry someone beneath her station if he's seen squiring a glamorous fiancée around town. Enter our heroine, an actress and his best friend's little sister. But what happens when the charade becomes all too real?

Her Brute Most Brazen by Tanya Wilde

A woman made for the light. A man born to the shadows.

When Lady Violet Sharpe flees her controlling brother and a fate she refused to accept, she reinvents herself in the lively Lanes of Brighton with a new name, a botanical shop full of flowers, and the desperate hope that her brother never finds her. She wants nothing more than to bloom quietly in her corner of the world, far away from the cruelties of powerful men. But when a dubious prize fight draws her into the wrong place at the wrong time, Violet finds herself face to face with one of the most dangerous men in Brighton.

What’s a woman to do? Pretend she’s lost, of course! And pray she can keep her identity a secret. Her prayers, unfortunately, go unanswered, and instead she draws the attention of the very kind of man she wants to avoid at all costs.

Drake Fury is not a man to be crossed. One of the feared Fury brothers and the undefeated Brute of Brighton’s underground fighting, he has built his reputation on brutal swiftness. His world is simple: Power is taken, never given. Weakness is punished. And threats are eliminated.

But when his newest tenant turns up where she shouldn’t be, lies to his face, and somehow outmaneuvers him and escapes, Drake is left with a problem he cannot quite solve . . . or stay away from.

Violet Sharpe.

The brightest flame he’s ever met.

As suspicion turns into a dangerous battle of wills, and Violet is thrust fully into Drake’s world, she must decide how much she is willing to risk to stay free, and this dark king must reckon with the one loss more dangerous than defeat: losing her.

Well hello there Wendy Catnip. An on-the-run heroine creates a new life in Brighton, only to be noticed by the one man she doesn't want to get noticed by - the dangerous prize fighter Drake Fury who, despite knowing she's hiding something, can't seem to stay away.  This is the second book in the Bastards of Brighton series.  

Anything but a Lord by Kathleen Ayers

Miss Helen Cosgrove only wants a quiet life, instead she falls for the Duke of Roxboro…or does she?

Helen has spent her life invisible. As a lady's companion to the spoiled daughter of a marquess, she exists in the margins of polite society—neither servant nor equal, wanted by no one and belonging nowhere. She asks for nothing more than to survive one final Season, collect her promised wages, and disappear into a quiet life of her own choosing.

But when the notorious Duke of Roxboro appears in a darkened alcove at a ball, Helen's carefully ordered world begins to unravel.

Fletcher Bean grew up in The Devil’s Acre; a place he’ll do anything to escape. Resembling a duke, even Roxboro, is profitable. Bracelets, necklaces, earbobs, stickpins…they all find their way into Fletcher’s pocket. No one ever questions him or rather, Roxboro, until he meets a sharp-tongued, perceptive lady’s companion and chaperone.

The attraction between them is immediate, passionate and doomed from the start. Miss Cosgrove believes Fletcher to be only an unrepentant libertine. A sot. A debauched duke.

But the truth is far worse.

The second book in the London Vices series, she's a lady's companion who just wants to collect her wages and retire to a quiet life of her own choosing. What she didn't plan on was catching the notice of the notorious Duke of Roxboro - or has she? Our hero is an imposter, who conveniently happens to resemble the Duke and uses that resemblance to his full advantage - that is until he meets our heroine, and a very inconvenient attraction ensues. 

The Countess Kisses a Rogue by Jillian Eaton

An American doctor, a British earl, and a love to last a lifetime.

When a doctor determined to prove herself . . .

Eight years ago, Dr. Abigail Chadwick, born in England and raised in America, eloped with the handsome, wealthy, and oh-so-roguish Earl of Lancaster. It was a marriage of convenience that was never supposed to be anything more . . . until a night of passion changed everything. When her resolve to obey her head instead of her heart is threatened, Abigail flees to the one place she knows Stephen will never think to look for her: London.

Is hunted by a charming wolf in earl’s clothing . . .

From the moment Stephen meets Abigail, he’s instantly intrigued. His bride of convenience is nothing like he expected and everything he desires. When she vanishes without a trace, he refuses to give up until he finds her. When he does, he offers her a daring ultimatum: Live with him at his country estate as his wife for three weeks, and her freedom is hers . . . if she still wants it.

A marriage of convenience erupts into a passionate battle of wills!

The third book in the Ladies of Seduction series. She's an American doctor who runs away when her convenient marriage becomes emotionally inconvenient - so she heads back to London thinking her husband, our hero, won't think to look for her there. Turns out she's very, very wrong. 

A Lady's Guide to Subterfuge and Science by Isabella Kamal

All’s fair in love and science…

It is the summer of 1844, and seasoned microscopist Kalila Darwish has made a decision: travel to London, impersonate her cousin Dameer, and attempt to change the Society of Microscopic Biology from within. Clever and resourceful, Kalila is confident that she can convince her male peers to allow women into the Society over a series of lectures. All she needs to do is make sure she blends in—and for a woman with an extraordinary eye for detail, that shouldn’t be much of a challenge at all…

Oliver Booth had expected to enjoy the Society’s summer lecture series, but not like this. The person introducing themselves as Dameer Rafiq is none other than the woman he ran into only days ago, and Oliver is desperate to know what her angle is. But his Lady Impostor is guarded and rightfully so. After all, he was the one who’d left teasing critiques on all those papers she had submitted to the Society over the years, making her see him as something of a rival…

As Kalila’s affection for Oliver grows, she is forced to decide what to throw her heart into and to reckon with the fact that the world of science is riddled with far more hurdles than she was anticipating. With her research at risk, she and Oliver must work together—and Kalila must decide if her disguise is more of a help…or a hindrance.

She's a microscopist who decides to impersonate her cousin to convince a bunch of men that women have actual brains. The fly in the ointment? Our hero, who knows she's not a he, and it turns out he's the same bloke who has been leaving "teasing critiques" on all the papers she's submitted over the years. I'm going to guess that's not going to go over well when she learns the truth. This is the start of a new series for Kamal.  

Much Ado Over a Duke by Molly Thorpe

Two rivals from opposite worlds. One absurd treasure hunt. No time whatsoever for falling in love.

Lady Cordelia Nichols has buried two dukes in six weeks and has not the time, or patience, for a third. But when her father’s estate and title pass to commoner Justin Wright—the adopted son of a former scullery maid, by way of the most baffling entailment in English legal history—Cordelia must decide how far she’ll go to protect Hollyhead House and the three eccentric sisters who depend on her.

Justin has no interest in being a duke. He has a London life, an architectural firm, and a perfectly comfortable absence of aristocratic obligation. But settling the estate requires returning to the country house where he was never welcome. He finds a crumbling manor, four unmarried women, and a very beautiful eldest daughter who rides like a highwayman and argues like a barrister.

Then the late duke’s will surfaces a secret: a hidden fortune, left only for the heir “worthy enough” to find it. Suddenly Cordelia and Justin are rivals in a madcap treasure hunt where ciphered Shakespeare, overturned garden statues, and increasingly poor decisions abound. With a gossip columnist circling and their reputations unraveling, the search for the duke’s treasure may ruin them both. And falling in love along the way is the one disaster neither of them anticipates.

When our heroine finds out her father's estate and title are passing to the adopted son of a scullery maid (!) - she has to decide how far she'll go to protect her home and her sisters. Our hero is an architect, with a life in London, and isn't all that keen to become a Duke, especially when he discovers a crumbling estate and four women in residence, one of whom sets the land speed record for vexing him. Another start to a series, you can bet the sisters will eventually get their own stories.

Devoted to His Sword by Florence A. Bliss

A dangerous mission. A deadly secret. A desire that could ignite a war.

Michel de Chevalerie has spent years navigating the brutal territories of the Mongol Empire, protecting the precious trade routes between France and the East. As heir to a powerful duke, he's a soldier, a diplomat-and a man who doesn't make mistakes. Until her.

When a mysterious Mongolian woman stumbles into his path, injured and alone, Michel is drawn in by her sharp wit, fiery will, and beauty that makes his blood burn. He knows better than to get involved. But one reckless decision pulls him into a treacherous game of deception, desire, and political intrigue.

Eve is fleeing everything she's ever known: a forced marriage, a bloodstained crown, and the enemies that hunt her like prey. Her only hope lies west-in the fabled lands of France. To get there, she'll use every weapon at her disposal, including the charming nobleman leading a merchant caravan through her homeland. But what begins as a calculated seduction becomes something far more dangerous.

Michel might be her best chance at survival. He could also be the ruin of them both.

As secrets unravel and armies close in, Michel and Eve must decide what's worth fighting for: duty, desire… or each other.

He's a French knight protecting trade routes in Mongolia who gets a lot more than he bargained for when he meets a mysterious Mongolian woman running away from a forced marriage and various enemies. Her only hope, as she sees it, is to get to France and she'll do anything, including charming the hero. This is the second book in a series, and absent of a sample at the time of this posting, I suspect it's set in the 17th century. 

Once Upon a Reckless Rogue by Cassandra Samuels

In a world of war and duty, hearts intertwine in unlikely love.

In the shadows of post-war Spain, Thomas Markham, a spy, is sent on a covert mission, only to be captured and brutally tortured to the point of near death. Salvation comes in the form of an unexpected savior.

Under threat of death, Elena Diaz, a skilled healer, is forced to keep the English captain alive. But something about him, his resilience and fighting spirit, reminds her of the brother she lost. When the chance to escape arises, she risks everything to take the broken Englishman with her.

Drawn even closer together on their journey from the Spanish coast to the heart of England—in the face of danger, betrayal, and hidden truths—they long to share a life together, but can they find a place where they are truly safe?

Yes, more spies - but hear me out...post-war Spain! He's on a mission that goes south and she's the skilled healer who keeps him alive. It's a race to England to save their mutual skins. This is the third book in the Spies Like Us series. 

Highland Vow by Brenna Ash

She is the woman they whisper about.

He is the man she was never meant to love.

Eilidh Hart has spent years enduring a reputation she does not deserve. No matter how fiercely she plays her fiddle—or how honestly she lives—cruel rumors follow her from village to village. Music is her refuge. Her rebellion. The one place where she is truly free.

Torquil MacGregor wants no part of clan rivalries or whispered judgments. A gifted lute player with a gentle soul, he believes music speaks truths no blade ever could. When he hears Eilidh play, he’s drawn to her instantly. He doesn’t see the scandal others see, but the woman beneath the lies they all ty to ignore.

Their connection is immediate. Undeniable. Forbidden.

With both families warning them apart and old tensions threatening to resurface, Eilidh and Torquil must decide whether a love born in song is worth the cost of defying clan, custom, and expectation.

I cannot un-see the fact that the hero looks like 1990s A Night at the Roxbury Chris Kattan. Look folks, I shouldn't be the only one suffering. Anyway, terrible cover aside, this third book in the Highland Heartstrings series features a couple who are both musicians and a heroine with a "reputation she does not deserve." I am such trash for heroines who have "reputations" that I'm even willing to look past our Chris Kattan lookalike. 

Merciful Salvation by Violetta Rand

A disgraced warrior. A spirited noblewoman. A second chance neither expected.

Aaron McNally left Scotland behind the day he lost his honor.

Banished in disgrace, he forges a new life in Norway—earning a title, a sword, and a place in the king’s army. Determined never to repeat the mistakes of his past, Aaron believes redemption must be earned.

Then he meets Kara Dalgaard.

Kara has never been the obedient daughter her father wants. Fierce-hearted and restless, she longs for more than the quiet life expected of her. But when Aaron arrives at her family estate recruiting soldiers for the king, she’s pressured into taking part in a cruel deception meant to shame him.

She regrets it almost immediately.

As attraction grows between them, Aaron begins to imagine a future he never thought possible. Yet old wounds and buried truths refuse to stay in the past.

Aaron fought to reclaim his honor.

Now he must decide whether risking his heart is worth losing it all again.

Third book in the Heart of a Viking series, he left Scotland with his tail between his legs and remade himself in Norway, hoping to not repeat past mistakes. Then he meets the heroine. Complications ensue. 

Tides of Passion by Lauren Everly

Society darling Abigail Ross has everything: wealth, beauty, and a future carefully planned. That is, until the notorious Captain Thorne forces her into hiding in New Orleans with a reclusive widower who wants nothing to do with her. She’s told it’s the safest place for her, and she’s inclined to agree—no pirate would think to look for her in the middle of a swamp.

Since his wife died, Lucien Moreau has turned his back on the world. Whispers follow him wherever he goes, branding him a madman. A murderer. He’s long since stopped caring, so long as he’s left alone with his ghosts. But the bright, headstrong socialite he’s forced to protect begins to unravel his carefully guarded solitude.

When Thorne strikes again, Abigail finds herself in the middle of a dangerous pirate hunt. As secrets about her father’s involvement in a government plot are revealed, she faces a choice: stand with family and keep her gilded life or walk away and lose it all.

The race is on to find those guilty as the line between survival and surrender begins to blur. And the undeniable pull between Abigail and Lucien becomes harder to deny—until resisting each other feels far more dangerous than any pirate on the horizon.

It's Old School shenanigans in the third book in the Secrets of the Seas series. A society darling who lands in the crosshairs of a notorious pirate captain is sent into hiding in New Orleans. Her protector? A reclusive widower who wants absolutely nothing to do with her or the mess that she's brought to his doorstep.  

Isabella's Rake by June Calvin (Reprint)

In 1800s London, Isabella Eardley dreams of becoming England's first great female landscape artist. When she meets the charming painter Harrison Curzon, she sees a chance to pursue her artistic ambitions. But as the granddaughter of a duchess, Isabella faces mounting pressure to marry the Duke of Winkham and fulfill her family's expectations.

June Calvin weaves a captivating tale of romance and rebellion in this Regency-era story. Through secret art lessons, daring escapes, and passionate encounters, Isabella challenges the rigid constraints placed on women of her time. With her loyal friend Virginia by her side, she navigates the treacherous waters of London society while fighting for her right to create art.

Will Isabella choose the safe path of a prestigious marriage, or risk everything for love and artistic freedom? As her father's threats grow more menacing and her feelings for Harrison deepen, Isabella must find the courage to defy convention and forge her own destiny. Her choice will either shatter her dreams or lead to a life she never dared imagine.

A Traditional Regency first published by Signet in 1997. A heroine with aspirations to become a painter cannot find anyone to give her lessons, well other than the most notorious rake in all of London that is. Will she follow her dreams and her heart or give into familial pressure to do what is "expected." Thanks to the Wayback Machine, The Romance Reader gave this 4 Hearts back in the day (B grade) and a positively scandalous sensuality rating for a Trad....PG.

Whew! Like the introduction to this post, I normally finish these up with a couple of pithy sentences; but 22 titles! I think I need to lie down. Maybe with a cool cloth on my forehead while I do some book shopping on my phone...

#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.