How to Woo a Reluctant Lady - Sabrina Jeffries

Lady Minerva Sharpe has the perfect plan to thwart her grandmother’s demand that she marry by year’s end:  become engaged to a rogue!  Surely Gran would rather release her inheritance than see her wed a scoundrel. 

And who better to play the part of Minerva’s would-be husband than wild barrister Giles Masters, the very inspiration for the handsome spy in the popular gothic novels she writes?  The memory of his passionate kiss on her nineteenth birthday has lingered with Minerva, though she has no intention of falling for such a rakehell, much less marrying him! Little does she know, Giles really is a covert government operative.  When the two team up to investigate the mystery behind her parents’ deaths, their fake betrothal leads to red-hot desire. Then Minerva discovers Giles’s secret double life, and he must use all the cunning tricks of his trade to find his way back to her heart.

This is book number 3 in Sabrina Jeffries Hellions of Halstead Hall series. I've been waiting since book one to read Minerva's story.

Minerva Sharpe had been in love with Giles Masters since he helped her through the funeral of her parents. However, Giles seemed to only care about gambling and women and she thought he would never notice her. That is until she is about to make her debut in society she decides to take matters into her own hands. She sneaks into a party where people are dressed in costumes and reveling in debauchery [I love that word :o)]. She is heartbroken to find him nowhere to be present but soon catches him stealing papers from the host's desk.

Giles was trying to seek revenge for his father's death even though it was a suicide. His father was pushed down a dark road after many risky investments and when the last one went bust he could not longer take the toll of such a role in society. His plan goes off without a hitch until Minerva catches him in the act dressed to make a man lose his mind. All she asks for in return for her silence is a kiss. Would he dare kiss the sister of his best friends? He decides it is the only way to keep her silence. He kisses her senseless but at the same time burning that kiss forever into his mind. He blows her off and thus shattering her heart.

For the next nine years Giles works as an informant for the Home Office but when the opportunity presents itself to become a King's Counsel he must give up that life and decides he needs a wife and no one else but Minerva has been a consideration for him since their kiss.

Minerva has spent those same nine years mending her broken heart and pouring out everything into her books and using Giles as a basis for the villain in her books. And also using her parts of her life in her books as well including mentioning a certain costume party...but soon she starts stepping too close to the truth and Giles decides that he needs to marry her, also, to keep her from ratting out his secrets and also the thought of her in his bed doesn't hurt either. Minerva agrees only because she thinks her grandmother will never let her marry such a scoundrel and then maybe she will release her from her ultimatum to marry in order to gain her inheritance.

Soon Giles and Minerva are working together to try to solve what really happened to Minerva's parents (which I assume we won't really know until the last book in the series). With this Minerva realizes she never really stopped loving Giles but was just angry with him (for a while) but can she prove to him that her love is worth it and to trust her when trust is not something that comes easy to him. Also, can he trust and love her enough to share his past with her and let her see the real Giles and not the one he presents to the rest of the world?

OMG I loved this book it was everything and more of what I was hoping for!! I soo love Minerva she is my kind of heroine. She is ballsy and doesn't mind doing as she pleases.

OH and Giles talk about a handsomely devilish rake. He had my heart in the first book and with this one it just grew to a feverish pitch, LOL!!

So far this is my favorite book in this series and to tell you I cannot wait for Gabe's book because I consider him a definite book boyfriend because he is dark and mysterious and those are my favorite kinds!!!

So if you want to read Minerva and Giles' story just go here -->How to Woo a Reluctant Lady (The Hellions of Halstead Hall)

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Currently Reading: One Night in Scotland by Karen Hawkins

Up Next: To be honest I haven't decided yet and trust me I have a lot to choose from, LOL!!

A Hellion in Her Bed - Sabrina Jeffries

There are some things here that some might consider spoilers so you have been warned!!

Furious at grandmother’s ultimatum to marry or lose his inheritance, Lord Jarret Sharpe wagers his luck—and his heart—at the card table against a most unlikely opponent.


Mired in scandal after his parents’ mysterious deaths, notorious gambler Lord Jarret Sharpe agrees to tamely run the family’s brewery for a year if his Machiavellian grandmother rescinds her ultimatum that he marry. But the gambler in him can’t resist when beguiling Annabel Lake proposes a wager. If she wins their card game, he must help save her family’s foundering brewery. But if he wins, she must spend a night in his bed. The outcome sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy all his plans…and unveils the secret Annabel has held for so long. When Jarret discovers the darker reason behind her wager, he forces her into another one—and this time he intends to win not just her body, but her heart.

This is book two in the Hellions of Halstead Hall series or the Sharpe Family. The first book was The Secret Life of Lord Stoneville. I can't remember if I put a review up here or not....*blank look* oh well it's late and I'm tired so I really don't feel the need to tax my brain any further!
 
This book is about Jarrett Sharpe. After the mysterious deaths of his parents and after having been told by his grandmother that at the age of 13 he was too young to run the family brewery Jarrett Sharpe and finds himself pretty damned good at cards. So then he finds himself 19 years later and having spent his life gambling, wenching (ohhh I love that word, LOL). He has made a living out of it. But soon his grandmother gives an ultimate to all the Sharpe children - "marry in one year or lose their inheritance". Luckily Jarrett is able to maneuver around this by agreeing to run the brewery for a year.
 
Soon he runs into Annabel Lake whose family brewery is struggling and has decided to turn to Plumtree Brewery for help. She thinks she will find Lady Plumtree at the helm but who she finds is none other than Jarrett Sharpe.  He first refuses her scheme to sell to the East but concedes and agrees to speak to his grandmother. But Annabel is desperate and she agrees to a wager...beat him at cards and he helps Lake Ale but if he wins she must share his bed. *gasp*...juicy, no??
 
Well with a stroke of luck (and also with the help of nagging of his friends) Jarrett loses. So he sets out to help Annabel and her brewery. Soon he discovers that Anna is full of surprises and mysteries. Her family is hiding several secrets. One she lies and says her brother is ill that is why he can't run the brewery but in fact he is just a drunk. And second Anna at a young age falls for a man who after "taking certain liberties" joins the army and is killed but Anna finds herself pregnant and to save her child the humilation of being labeled a bastard her brother and sister in law make it seem as if the child is theirs.
 
He is furious at her deceit but also he realizes he understands her reasoning behind it and also she melts his heart like no other and for the first time he is willing to gamble with his heart.
 
I truly liked Jarret and Annabel although there were a few times I wanted to bop her on the head but then she would redeem herself and I would breathe a sigh of relief.
 
Also the back of the book had an excerpt for Minerva's book (she is my fave) and I cannot wait to read it!!

But if you want to read Jarrett and Anna's story just go here --> A Hellion in Her Bed (Hellions of Halstead Hall) and if you are saying I didn't read the first one then go here to read Oliver's story -->The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall)

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Currently Reading: The Surrender of a Lady by Tiffany Clare
Up Next: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (gotta throw in something other than a romance to keep me from getting bored)