Beat the Heat: Unusual Historical Highlights for July 2021

Somehow it's mid-July and I'm recently back from a trip to my home state where I saw my parents for the first time in two years and my sisters since January 2020 (a trip to Napa to celebrate my older sister's 50th birthday was the last hurrah before COVID shut us all down). The universe told me I really needed this time off when my work laptop decided to brick itself (a Windows loading failure!) and on the day this post will go live I'll be extremely busy back at the office (June and July are the literal worst for me at The Day Job).  I foresee a lot of caffeine and collapsing in my bed every night in my very near future.  But let's not think about work now. Let's focus on some unusual historicals landing on shelves this month!  Here's what is catching my eye for July:

 

Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas 

“The devil never tries to make people do the wrong thing by scaring them. He does it by tempting them.” 

Lady Merritt Sterling, a strong-willed young widow who’s running her late husband’s shipping company, knows London society is dying to catch her in a scandal. So far, she’s been too smart to provide them with one. But then she meets Keir MacRae, a rough-and-rugged Scottish whisky distiller, and all her sensible plans vanish like smoke. They couldn’t be more different, but their attraction is powerful, raw and irresistible. 

From the moment Keir MacRae arrives in London, he has two goals. One: don’t fall in love with the dazzling Lady Merritt Sterling. Two: avoid being killed. 

So far, neither of those is going well. 

Keir doesn’t know why someone wants him dead until fate reveals the secret of his mysterious past. His world is thrown into upheaval, and the only one he trusts is Merritt. 

Their passion blazes with an intensity Merritt has never known before, making her long for the one thing she can’t have from Keir MacRae: forever. As danger draws closer, she’ll do whatever it takes to save the man she loves . . . even knowing he might be the devil in disguise. 

I have not kept up with Kleypas' Ravenels series, but this blurb ticks a lot of boxes for me.  A heroine running a shipping company and a rough around the edges outsider hero who owns a distillery!  An inconvenient attraction and a hero that someone wants dead.  I notoriously will skip around when it comes to romance series - do I care that this is book 7 and I've only read book 1?  No. No I do not.

The Viscount Made Me Do It by Diana Quincy 

A seduction that could ruin everything... 

Hanna Zaydan has fought to become London’s finest bonesetter, but her darkly appealing new patient threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard for. The daughter of Arab merchants is slowly seduced by the former soldier — even though she’s smart enough to know Griff is after more than he’ll reveal. Whatever it is, the bonesetter’s growing desire for the man just might tempt her to give it to him. 

An attraction that cannot be denied... 

Rumors that he killed his own parents have followed Thomas Ellis, Viscount Griffin, practically since he was a boy. More than a decade after the tragedy, Griff receives a tip about his parents’ killer… one that takes him straight to a captivating bonesetter. Griff is convinced Hanna is a fraud, but the dark-eyed beauty stirs deep feelings in him that he thought had perished along with his family. 

Hanna has a gift for fixing fractured people, but can she also mend a broken heart? More importantly, will Griff let her?

So here's the thing about unusual historicals: if you want to see more of them you need to take chances. They won't all be winners.  Among the corner of Romancelandia I follow I saw mixed reviews for the first book in this series, but Quincy (and Avon's editorial team) drop a lot of Wendy catnip in this back cover blurb.  The heroine is a bonesetter! Oh sure, the hero is a Viscount, but he's a former soldier determined to find his parents' killer.  This one is already locked and loaded on my Kindle.

Her Lady's Fortune by Renee Dahlia 

Together they could help thousands of people, if only they can trust each other. 

Philanthropist Priya Howick isn’t the same person she was before WWI. Only one thing remains true—she has always been defined by her relationship with her brother. Ashwin is the heir to both Lord Dalhinge, and the Carlingford shipbuilding fortune, and that makes her a natural target for those who wish to have the family wealth for themselves. She’s been taught to be wary of outsiders and their motives, which means all her friends are from her family’s close circle. Once, before the war, she stepped outside those boundaries, and met Rosalie, a beautiful older woman. But what happened next only proved her family correct. Now the war is over and Priya has created a charity to build houses for war widows, but her brother sets it up as a joint venture with the bank, Sanderson and Sons. She has to work with Rosalie, and the same sparks fly. Priya must decide if she is brave enough to risk everything. Not just her money and therefore her independence, but also her heart. 

Assertive bank manager Rosalie Sanderson is the only damned serious person in her family. She’s forty-two, the manager of Sanderson and Sons bank, and tired of having to continually prove that she is capable of making a profit and running the family business successfully. Very few people accept her as she is, and it stings that young Priya Howick is one of them. They had one incredible evening together before the war, and then it went sour for no apparent reason, and Priya has been distant in their few business meetings. The rejection shouldn’t nag at her like this, like rubbing salt in a papercut. All the old wounds and passions need to be confronted when Priya arrives at the bank with an incredible work proposal. Rosalie must decide if the opportunity to help thousands of people is worth the heart ache of being close to Priya again. 

A heroine who can never trust that people like her for her (and not the fortune she's destined to inherit) is reunited with a one night stand (an older woman!) who turns out to be a bank manager.  Post WWI was an extremely interesting time for women, and Dahlia continues to mine that with this third book in her Great War series.

A Marriage Made in Secret by Jenni Fletcher

She must choose… 

…her queen—or love! 

As the queen’s new lady-in-waiting, Mathilde Gosselin tumbles straight into Parisian palace intrigue when she meets courtier Henry Wright, who she discovers is a spy! Mathilde’s loyalties are now divided—between this enigmatic, courageous man and her queen. And amid the turmoil, her falling for the unsuitable, illegitimate Henry means they’ve no choice but to hide their new love from the world… 

This new medieval from Fletcher appears to be a stand-alone and this back cover blurb hits on a lot of elements that draw me towards medievals.  Namely, the question of divided loyalties and courtly intrigue - both of which got a lot of people very dead back in the day. It adds tension and ups the stakes to any romance set among that kind of backdrop.  As an added bonus, this one is set in Paris!

How to Wed a Courtesan by Madeline Martin 

  

From courtesan …to society wife? 

When Evander, Earl of Westix, returns from the continent to claim his bride, he is shocked that the innocent vicar’s daughter he once loved has become a notorious courtesan. But Lottie is so much more than the insult society hurls at her. She is resourceful and strong—after all, she’s had to be to survive. Her charms are undeniable, but her heart is beyond his grasp. To win it will mean taking her from bedroom to ballroom… 

Be still my heart! An Earl coming home to finally marry the girl next door discovers she's become a notorious courtesan. I've got a thing for strong heroines bent on survival and if they thumb their nose at society along the way?  All the better.

The Return of Her Lost Knight by Melissa Oliver 

Her second chance 

With her lost love… 

To avoid a forced marriage, Lady Gwenllian plans to escape to a convent. She couldn’t possibly honor another when her heart still belongs to Ralph de Kinnerton, the man she had to betray to save his life—only to hear of his death shortly after. So how is it possible he’s here at this knight’s tournament? Now the pull of their unfinished past forces Gwen to question the choice she’d made for her future…

Another series I'm officially behind on. I enjoyed the first book in Oliver's Notorious Knights series and here we are already on Book #3. Another medieval (yeah!) featuring a heroine who betrayed the hero in order to save his life only to find out later he was killed.  Um, except apparently he wasn't.  A heroine who runs away from the convent and a mess of unfinished romantic business sounds delicious.

Whew!  Another solid month for unusual historicals this month. What are you looking forward to reading?

Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas

Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas is her first historical romance in five years and the anticipation among romance fans has been palpable.  I was lucky enough to score an ARC at a library conference (I know, right?!) and I spent last Friday decadently reading it from cover to cover.  My thoughts?  Well, if you're looking for a squee'ing fangirl review, you should probably turn back now.  This story was a real mixed bag for me.  What I liked, I really liked, and what I found problematic?  Well, read on McDuff.

Devon Ravenel has just inherited an earldom thanks to his hot-headed cousin getting thrown from a horse and breaking his neck.  This is the late Victorian era, and Devon is a rake.  So inheriting the earldom not only puts a crimp in his style, but thanks to the exploding Industrial Revolution in England, the peers have found their coffers considerably depleted.  There just ain't no money in land and farming anymore and Devon's inherited estates reflect that.  They're practically falling down around his ears and with no money to make necessary improvements?  He's hoping to sell the lot and be done with it.  The fly in the ointment?  His cousin's widow, Kathleen Ravenel.

Kathleen was married for three days before she found herself in widow's weeds and here's the new earl, with his drunkard of a brother, talking of selling her new home out from under her.  She's concerned for herself, of course, but more so her three sisters-in-law - the impetuous, rambunctious twins, Cassandra and Pandora, and quiet, reserved Helen.  None of whom have a dowry.  This rake in their midst is planning on throwing them all out on their ear.  Well, not if Kathleen can help it!

What follows is a feisty war of words, a battle of the minds.  Devon truly is a rake.  He beds women, he carouses, he says some hurtful things when Kathleen gets his temper up.  "Feisty" is now a dirty word among some romance fans, but that's what Kathleen is in the best sense of the word.  She's not immune to Devon's barbs, but she gives as good as she gets and there are some moments during their exchanges where I laughed out loud.

This book started out as a strong B+ for me, but as it goes on for 380+ pages it began to slide south.  Kleypas spends a lot of time on setting up her series and the secondary characters.  There is a stretch in the middle of the book where Devon heads back to London and frankly Kathleen is spending so much more time with his brother, West, that I began to wish that he were the hero of the story.  The sisters all get their various moments in the sun, along with some of the servants, which means less page time devoted to the romance.  I liked all these secondary characters, and they were great.  What wasn't so great is that by the end of it I wanted way more of them and a lot less of the main romance, which I had begun to grow weary of.  Kathleen and Devon continue battling to the bitter end and after 380 pages I was kind of over it.

The love scenes didn't really help this state of affairs since I found them problematic.  To call them "forced seduction" is overstating it (I think).  But they're very much of the no-yes-no-yes-no-yes variety.  Kleypas writes Devon a bit rough around the edges.  This seems an odd thing to be hung up on, since actual criminals seem to be romance hero fodder these days, but he's definitely Alpha with a capital A.  I'm not going to lie, while I didn't feel it was "forced seduction" - I did still find the love scenes a pinch uncomfortable.  And then there's a the Big Secret that Kathleen is hiding.  I won't reveal it because it's a Huge Honkin' Spoiler - but let's just say it's going to be a hot button for some readers (it was more eye-rolling for me).

The relationship between Kathleen and Devon is very much push-pull-push-pull.  Couple this with the fact that Kleypas sets the groundwork for Helen's romance in her next historical - I found myself weary of the battling between Kathleen and Devon and wanted a lot more of Helen's romance.  In fact, I'm really looking forward to her book (Marrying Mr. Winterborne - May 2016) - even though her hero (a department store owner!!!!!!), is another rough-around-the-edges sort.  In fact, he does something towards the end of this book that I think might be beyond the pale for some readers (I'm, admittedly, hesitant myself but man, I really liked Helen a lot).

A final word: we currently live in a time when the genre is exploding and authors feel a lot of pressure to publish a new book every other week.  Some authors can do this and quality doesn't slip.  Some authors cannot, and readers sometimes find themselves wading through slapdash product.  That's the exact opposite of what we get here.  This reads like a story that the author took care and time in writing and her publisher took care and time with editing it, packaging it and delivering it to readers.  It's sad that the current state of the genre now makes me point out things like this - but here we are.  Obviously I had issues with this book, and I wasn't madly in love with it - but damn if I didn't inhale it in one sitting.

Kleypas has set the stage to continue this series for a while, and this will likely be a series where I won't read every single book.  I'm dying for Helen's story, and I think West will make a dynamite hero if he (hopefully) gets his own book.  I'm less enthralled by the twins.  They're fine as secondary characters, but their impetuous, rambunctious nature makes me think my eyes would bleed reading their romances - unless something happens to alter their personalities somewhat.

If you're a Squee'ing Kleypas Fangirl, nothing in this review is going to deter you from this book (in fact, you're likely not reading this review - because hello? Why would you?).  But if you're not a fangirl (like me) and just looking for a quality historical romance?  This one left me conflicted.  I'm glad Kleypas is back with a new historical series, and even if I didn't love this?  I did like parts of it, and I appreciated a great deal of it.  It will be interesting to read the subsequent reviews that will likely flood GoodReads and Romancelandia.  As it stands for Wendy...

Final Grade = C+