What Happens in Scotland - Jennifer McQuiston

Lady Georgette Thorold has always been wary of marriage, so when she wakes up next to an attractive Scotsman with a wedding ring on her finger, it’s easy to understand why she panics and flees. Convinced that Georgette is a thief, her may-be husband, James McKenzie, searches for her. As both try to recall what happened that fateful night, they begin to realize that their attraction and desire for each other is undeniable. But is it enough?

Hello my lovelies!! How have you been? I hope you have been doing well. I'm finally back with a new book review...YAY!!

I found this book while trolling through Amazon's Coming Soon section of romance novels a few months ago. As soon as I read the description I knew I had to have this book!

So I ordered it along with some other books (that I seriously need to get my butt to reading) and cracked it open immediately. Now I will admit that it did take a little bit to get going (kind of like a train starting out at the station) but once it hit its stride it turned out to be a very wonderful book.

Georgette heads to stay with her cousin in Scotland after what she feels is proper mourning for her no good husband. She had a marriage but it was not what she had pictured for herself and after her husband's death she decides that she does not want to ever be married again because marriage made her unhappy and now she is free to spend her inheritance any way she pleases.

However, what she does not realize is that her cousin has his own nefarious plans for her and her fortune.

So Georgette escapes his clutches and runs into the town of Moraig (I think that's the name I finished it some time ago...feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). She starts kicking her heels up at a local pub and soon wakes up to find herself in bed with Scotsman and apparently married.

When he awakens she throws a chamber pot at him...a freaking chamber pot...I was laughing soo hard at this I could barely contain myself. She flees but soon realizes she has no memory of the night before and that she needs to find her mysterious husband and make an annulment like yesterday.

James can't believe he does not remember the night before so he goes in search of the mysterious woman who threw a chamber pot (LOL) at his head.

So they each spend the day (yes this book only takes place in the span of one day) trying to find the other and enter a bar wench turned house maid, an over protective brother, a lost horse, a stray kitten, a butcher with missing teeth and several other zany characters and you have all the makings of a Hangover set in 19th Century Scotland!!

I will tell you guys the reason I'm only giving it 4 stars is because of the slow start but other than that I have no complaints with this book. I think this was a wonderful debut novel and can't wait to see what else Ms. McQuiston decides to pull out of her writer's cap!!

Also, guys I'm hopefully going to be starting a YouTube channel and will start posting all my reviews there but I will put links here. I just think that would be a really cool way to get a review that way you can really get a sense of my feelings for a book better than reading what I write.

So I hope you guys are staying happy and healthy I'm off to read Dead Ever After the last Sookie Stackhouse book...but I must be honest I'm having a hard time getting into it since I know the ending...thanks internet, LOL!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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Bared to You - Sylvia Day

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…

He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds…and desires.The bonds of his love transformed me, even as i prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...

HELLO EVERYONE!! I'm here for a review!! WHAT...WHAT!!! LOL!!

Well I finally finished the first novel in the Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day - Bared to You. This book was a scorching hot read let me tell you! If you liked Fifty Shades of Grey I am pretty certain that you will love this one as well.

Eva has spent her adult life trying to overcome a dark past that haunts her. With the help of her bi-sexual friend Cary she is trying to adjust to her new life in New York. So with a new job and a new place she hopes she can finally have the life she has been wanting.

Gideon has spent his life building his empire and the day he meets Eva everything for him changes. He has a dark past that has yet to be revealed and in Eva he finds someone who can love him for him and that is something he desperately wants and craves.

The tension between Eva and Gideon is very much apparent from the first moment that they meet and when they finally come to gather prepare yourself for an explosion OH-KAY!!

I'm dying to know what lies in Gideon's past that makes him have all of those nightmares and poor Eva and what she went through is simply awful.

I can't wait to pick up the next book Reflected in You because like I said I'm dying to know what demons are haunting Gideon and hopefully get to know more about this deeply dark and delicious character!! (There I go again mooning over the tortured hero..I think I need to find a support group or just read another book...hahahaha!!)

I will tell you guys if you are not into very detailed and erotic love scenes then you probably should not consider reading this or Fifty for that matter but for those of you who don't mind it then make sure you don't get burned!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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(More like a million, LOL!)

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries - MY OBSESSION!!

I have to be honest I've been dying to write this blog post for sometime now. I know I haven't posted any book reviews (bad book blogger, very bad book blogger!). 

Anyway I'm sure you all have heard of The Lizzie Bennett Diaries on YouTube. If not...first off gasp, shock, horror!!! Where have you been? I would be ashamed to call myself a romance buff and for that matter a fan of anything dealing with Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice...just kidding, no seriously!

Well just in case you have been living under a rock for the past year now I'll fill you in...

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries is a bi-weekly web series which is based on the most historical and romantic book of all time Pride & Prejudice. It puts a modern spin on it. In it the titular character Lizzie Bennett (aka Elizabeth Bennett) is doing a vlog for her independent study. She decides to post videos every Monday and Thursday and talks about her daily life including her parents, her sisters (Jane and Lydia - although the other sister Mary has been turned in to a cousin but that's a small detail), William Darcy and all the other characters from Jane Austen's classic tale.

I will admit that I did come a little late to the party on this and had to catch up with all the episodes that were out and it took me almost a whole day to watch them (thanks to buffering...boo for buffering). But I was hooked from the first one and find myself waiting (sometimes impatiently) for the next show. I just can't wait to log into YouTube on Mondays and Thursdays to see in my news feed the latest video. I've become truly invested in this new modern take on this wonderful classic that I find myself consumed by what will happen next and also telling pretty much anyone that will listen that they need to check it out. Since the series has started a couple of little spinoffs have been created you can also follow Lydia's videos to see what's going on with her which of course intersect with Lizzie's videos. Now you can watch William Darcy's sister Gigi's videos which also entwine with them. 

Even with all these extra little videos I still feel like that is just not enough...which is why I've come to the (obvious) conclusion that I'm just a (wee) bit obsessed with them. 

So if you are interested in watching this series then just check it out below!! (Also fair warning there are 86 episodes so you'll probably spend the rest of your day sitting in bed watching all of them just thought I'd warn you.)





And just in case you were wondering here are some of my favorite videos (which oddly enough are all some of the most recent ones and all after we FINALLY meet Darcy)!!

The first time we see (sort of) see Darcy:




AND THEN the most awesomey awesomest moment so far in LBD history (LOL!!!)




And of course the follow up:



And now my very favorite video...not sure why just makes me sigh longingly...





Darcy does costume theater...HOLY COW!!




Probably one of the funniest moments on LBD...




And lastly the most touching and wonderful video (although it has it's sad moment)

Kieran Kramer Contest

HEY EVERYONE!!

Again, I know it has been forever but I'm working on reading a few books right now but I'm going to be honest with you guys with soo much wonderful TV to watch I've kinda fallen behind again...ARGHHH!!

So I hope to have a review for you by next week because I AM going to finish Bared to You by  Slyvia Day and then read the sequel Reflected in You...I PROMISE...I PINKY SWEAR!!!

Anyway I love Facebook because I can keep up with all my favorite authors and their latest releases and one in particular I'm super excited about is Kieran Kramer's latest The Earl is Mine. I fell in love with her books immediately with When Harry Met Molly which has been one of my favorite reads ever in a romance book.  And if you are at all curious you can go HERE to see my review of it. I must admit I still have the last book in her Impossible Bachelors series to read and then I must get started on her latest series The House of Brady which I have the first book Loving Lady Marcia and I just need to get to reading!!

Anyway on to the real reason for this post...Kieran Kramer is having a wonderful contest for the release of the second book in her House of Brady series The Earl is Mine.

If you want to know more about the book and the contest then just click that lovely little box down below...and GOOD LUCK!! (Also I am posting this an entry for myself because hey I love to win wonderful book prizes!!)

Lethal - Sandra Brown

When her four year old daughter informs her a sick man is in their yard, Honor Gillette rushes out to help him. But that "sick" man turns out to be Lee Coburn, the man accused of murdering seven people the night before. Dangerous, desperate, and armed, he promises Honor that she and her daughter won't be hurt as long as she does everything he asks. She has no choice but to accept him at his word.

But Honor soon discovers that even those close to her can't be trusted. Coburn claims that her beloved late husband possessed something extremely valuable that places Honor and her daughter in grave danger. Coburn is there to retrieve it -- at any cost. From FBI offices in Washington, D.C., to a rundown shrimp boat in coastal Louisiana, Coburn and Honor run for their lives from the very people sworn to protect them, and unravel a web of corruption and depravity that threatens not only them, but the fabric of our society.

WHOOP, WHOOP!! I'm back with a book review!! WHOOO-HOOO!!

Any-way, LOL!! I just finished reading Lethal by Sandra Brown. I have to say that Sandra Brown is definitely one of my favorite authors of all time. I love her books because they are always so suspenseful and full of twists and turns that you never would have even expected. Although over the last couple of books while I enjoyed them they just did not feel like Sandra Brown to me. They were good but they weren't freaking awesome!! But I have to say Sandra Brown is finally back to her old self with this book.

I mean if you want a heart pounding action filled and all around sexy read then Sandra Brown is your girl. I am soo happy to say that with this book it felt like greeting an old friend. Trust me if you guys have never read Sandra Brown do yourself a favor and go out and get one of her books one of my absolute favorites of hers (and I've read more than once) is Where There's Smoke. I also like Slow Heat in Heaven, White Hot, The Switch, The Alibi, Mirror Image, Charade, Exclusive, Fat Tuesday, French Silk, White Hot, Texas! Chase, Texas! Sage, Texas! Lucky...and I could go on but I'll stop there!! :)

This book grabbed me from page one and literally  had me breathless the whole way through. I am only giving it 4 stars though because I was just a little let down by the ending but overall it was still a very good and wonderfully suspenseful read.

Honor Gillette has been mourning the death of her husband for the last two years all while raising their only daughter. Honor wants nothing more than to live her life peacefully and raise her daughter.

All that is going fine until Lee Coburn enters her home looking for something that her husband hid that would implicate hundreds of people in a trafficking ring and also bring him closer to The Bookkeeper.

It takes everything Coburn has to convince Honor that he is not wanting to harm Honor or her daughter Emily that is just out for information and he was not the one responsible for the seven deaths at the trucking company he was working for.

Honor slowly begins to realize that Coburn is possibly telling the truth and while he thinks her late husband Eddie is probably part of the huge illegal ring in Tambour, Lousiana she still stands firm in believing that Eddie was a good cop and she sets out to prove not only to Coburn but to herself that Eddie was.

Soon Honor is doubting everything and everyone she has ever known and it all leads to the shocking reveal of The Bookkeeper.

I won't tell you guys anything more than that because I think you definitely need to read this and trust me you will be super shocked about who turns out to be The Bookkeeper...at least I know I was!! 

Also like I said I wish she would have ended it a little differently but still a really good book!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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As You Wish - Elyssa Patrick

Love doesn’t always follow the sheet music . . .

This Christmas, Portia Jackson needs a miracle to save her family’s generations-old florist shop. What she gets instead is a car that breaks down during a blizzard. Help arrives unexpectedly when the infamous Aubry Riley pulls over. She only expects him to drive her to the gas station . . . she never expects that kiss. But Portia lives in the real world—she knows this is only a holiday fling for Aubry. Except it doesn’t feel so temporary, and the last thing she wants is a broken heart.

Sometimes you have to sing some different notes . . .

Rock star Aubry Riley has no secrets. Thanks to the media, everyone knows about his troubled past. Six years have gone by since his world crashed, and now he’s ready for a comeback. But first he needs to reconcile with his family—starting with his six-year-old daughter. A month-long vacation at a Vermont lake house affords him the perfect opportunity to take a step in the right direction. He doesn’t need any other emotional entanglements, especially not with the bright-eyed florist he can’t stop thinking about. But no matter how hard he tries to resist her, he can’t. Now all he has to do is to convince Portia that there is nothing temporary when it comes to love.

I have to say that I got this book for free from the author to read.

Okay now that's out of the way I have to say I adored this book. It was a quick, funny and sexy read that I found very hard to put down.

I immediately fell in love with the characters and got a sense of where they were coming from and understood them.

Aubry is that quintessential rock and roll bad boy. But when you learn where he's from and the pain he experienced you kind of understand why he is who he is. Also, he wants to repair the relationship with his sister and also become the father his daughter deserves.

Portia is just trying to keep her family's flower shop from closing. It is her life but soon finds out that maybe there is more to life than running the shop.

I have to say this while I loved Portia and Aubry I found myself being drawn to the secondary story of Laura (Portia's best friend) and Finn (Portia's brother). I just felt so giddy and excited when I started reading there little pieces of the book.

Overall a wonderful debut!! I can't wait to read more!!

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Hugs,
Mindy

A Night Like This - Julia Quinn

 

Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is . . .

But she's managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge—in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he's the first man who has truly tempted her, and it's getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

Daniel Smythe-Smith might be

But that's not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family's annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten year old who thinks she's a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending...

OH WOW two reviews in about a week I'm doing good, LOL!!!

Well I have to say that I'm a huge, huge, HUGE fan of Julia Quinn. I fell in love with her Bridgerton series and even more so with the Smythe-Smith's who were secondary characters in that series. I am soo glad to be reading about them now!!

Anne Wynter (aka Annelisse Shawcross) is trying to get on with her life after a choice she made while she was 16 changed her way of life completely.

Daniel Smythe-Smith is pretty much in the same boat. After a drunken night of cards and a duel at dawn he has been in exile for the last three years. 

The two meet because Anne is the governess to Daniel's three younger cousins. He is immediately enraptured by her beauty and is determined to get to know her.

Anne tries her best to keep a safe distance away from Daniel. She has finally found a position she loves and does not want to risk losing due to the attentions of Lord on Winstead.

Soon they are having to deal with the demons of Anne's past. The man from her past wants his revenge for her having physically scarring him even though all she was trying to do was defend herself.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! As I stated previously I'm a huge fan of Julia Quinn. Her books always make me laugh. I have to say the sparkling gem in this book were Daniel's three cousins - Elizabeth, Frances and Harriet (who by far was my favorite!! And I think she deserves her own book, LOL!!) I love her books because they are always so light hearted (even though this one had some danger) and just make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

So if you are looking for a book just to lift your spirits then you need to get A Night Like This because I do not think you will be disappointed. If you are well then I feel bad for you, LOL!!

Happy Reading,
Mindy

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