Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Featured Favorite: Amanda Panhorst is my latest Regency author discovery and I'm hooked!

We all have our list of must-read and auto-buy authors, and mine just grew! Amanda Panhorst is a Regency author whose early books I've read and enjoyed, and after devouring her latest release, I indulged in binge-reading her recent series and she has now joined the ranks of my favorites.

Don't miss her character-driven books full of individuality, subtle humor (as well as some laugh out loud moments), and depth as the characters go through development and growth. 
 
 
As always- happy reading!


My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing


Synopsis

Evangeline has come to Fernsby Hall to host a house party, not to fall in love with an old friend...

Beautiful, vivacious, and extremely wealthy, the widowed countess, Evangeline Payne, may take every opportunity to entertain herself that she wishes. Her favorite pastime? Refusing ever offer of marriage that comes her way. Especially from her favorite scoundrel, Basil Morley, whose antics as her would-be suitor have kept her in stitches for years. His promises of someday wooing, winning and wifing her are utter nonsense. It is all fun and games between them, both knowing his main objective is her vast fortune.

She also knows Basil, ruined by foreign travels, only cares about amusing himself through absurd pranks, outrageous wagers, and the usual pursuits of a rake. To allow him into one’s heart would be beyond foolish. But as loneliness creeps into her life, Basil’s constant friendship is seen in a new light, and at a house party in Hertfordshire, clues to the real man hiding behind Basil’s roguish facade are too curious not to investigate, forcing her to realize that perhaps he is not the cordial rake he makes himself out to be.

  
The Reluctant Titles series Book One
 

My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing

Synopsis
 
He wants her gone.
She wants to leave.
The problem? She can't remember where she came from.


Hugh Longville keeps his distance from everyone. Especially anyone who may recognize him and remember what he did ten years before. So when he comes to the rescue of a strange woman deep in the forest that's been his home for so long, he wants her back where she came from as soon as possible. But there's a hitch.

Waking up after a bump on the head is unpleasant, but especially terrifying when you wake up in a strange place with no recollection of how you got there. Thus, Diana Stilwell finds herself at Eastbend Lodge, deep in New Forest with only a foreboding man and his servants for company.

Stranded by rains, Diana and Hugh are forced to find a middle ground for their tumultuous natures. But the more Diana sees of this strange and formidable man, the more she sees passed his façade of surliness and into the kind and hurting heart he carries. Can she convince him that forgiveness and love are possible?

 
The Reluctant Titles series Book Two
 
 
My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing


Synopsis
  
They made a vow based on the impossible.
But what will they do now that the impossible has happened?


Though they were exact opposites, Gussie Stilwell and Harry Fletcher often played together growing up in Rutland, England. To pass the time one hot summer day, they vowed to marry each other should Harry ever inherit his distant cousin’s baronetcy, sealing their pact with blood.

When he made the Pact, Harry knew he would never inherit Camrose from his cousin. He was third in line behind two robust men, including his brother, after all. But when a series of unthinkable events saddle him with the baronetcy, Harry must return from soldiering in Bombay to take up the mantle. With Gussie’s letters keeping him company on the voyage, he wrestles with the question whether to honor the childhood pact with his best friend, if she was willing, that is…

Gussie is not made for marriage. A fact she has known for years, declaring to anyone who asked that she will never participate in the institution. She made the Pact with Harry safe in the conviction that he would never inherit. They would simply remain best friends, even if Harry stayed in India as a soldier for the rest of his days. But when Harry arrives in England as Sir Harry, a baronet who now must marry, Gussie must decide which vow to keep.
The Reluctant Titles series Book Three

 
My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing


Synopsis
  
Rosy Barrett is a woman of simple tastes, asking nothing more than for leave to ride from dawn until dusk and tend to the horses in her father’s stables at Broadstone Manor. With the foaling season well underway, she is wholly focused on obtaining the beginnings of her own future breeding operation, separate from her father’s. Wholly focused, that is, until Giles Harrington, the boy she loved as a child, appears out of nowhere into her life again.

Seven years after his father’s financial ruin, Giles Harrington, Lord Montbury, does not like to waste time or money, having little to spare of either resource. While traveling home from a failed investment opportunity, Giles is led by chance to Rutland to his old acquaintances, the Barretts of Broadstone. Here, he finds Rosy, a girl he hardly remembers, a grown woman now, and all sunshine and smiles as she runs wild in her father’s stables. The more time he spends in her company, the more Giles is affected by her, beginning to believe that life, with the right people surrounding you, can offer the joy and happiness he doesn’t think he deserves.


The Langham Line series Book One


My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing


Synopsis

If she wanted to save him, there was no room to hesitate…

Resigned and dreading an arranged marriage that’s as ill-suited as it is unwanted, Lord Walraven accepts the invitation of a ramshackle acquaintance to journey to a house party in the far north of England as a last hurrah before accepting his fate. But in this helter-skelter party, schemes to ensnare Lord Walraven and his wealth are afoot.

Anna Welbourne has been her brother’s drudge for years now. When she is sent by herself to prepare their ancestral home and its unsuspecting servants for his grand party, she is furious enough to try anything to rid herself of her brother’s cruel guardianship. But among his guests is a man to whom she owes a debt, and she must pay him back. So when, after a raucous game of cards, Anna sees the handsome Lord Walraven being swept off to Gretna Green by a conniving woman, she not only sees a chance to escape her brother, but a way to pay the debt.

 The Langham Line series Book Two

My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing


Synopsis

He is in desperate need of a wife. She is accepting someone else. Will one summer be enough to change her mind?

James Hammond is in a bind. To fulfill the dictates of his late cousin’s will, he must provide a London season for his new ward, Belinda. An easy thing to do with his fashionable, London-loving wife, if only she hadn’t died right before his cousin. Now, with his new ward to care for, a rascal of a son to keep in check, and a mountain of debt left by his wife, James must find a bride, and fast. But after his third rejection in as many months, James is beginning to lose hope.

Letty Langham does not fall in love. She experienced the emotion once before and it went about as badly as a case of unrequited love can go. Now she has vowed never to give those emotions any rein again. But not wanting to be alone forever, she sees the wisdom in accepting the proposal of the impeccable Lord Bransbury come autumn, after she spends the summer with her cousins near Bath. But after an act of charity goes horribly askew, Letty finds herself in the frequent company of Mr. James Hammond, whose handsome face and easygoing manners are making her rethink keeping her feelings bound.

 The Langham Line series novella

*get this book for free when you subscribe to the author's newsletter

(at time of blog post)

 

My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it


Synopsis

Lady Anthea’s relationship with Lord Desford has never been easy, but always entertaining. After ending a short, disastrous engagement, the two spend the next decade in a verbal sparring match. Their goal? Jab each other as much as possible while London looks on, accepting them as an eccentric, amusing pair. It's a position that suits them both. So, when word goes round that Desford is looking for a bride, Anthea is certain their relationship won’t change, and focuses her energies on how to dampen her beautiful niece’s infatuation with Desford’s cousin, the handsome Richard Tiverton.

Finally yielding to the pressures of his family, Lord Desford agrees to find a wife and flatly refuses to help either Richard or Anthea in the situation revolving around Molly Wakefield, Anthea’s niece. With his considerable fortune, and title to go with it, it will be easy to find a suitable woman to fill the position. He knows full well that love will not play a part in his marriage. How could it when the woman he’s really wanted all these years won’t have anything to do with love?

Are you a fan of sweet Regency romance? Have you read Amanda's books?



Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway: The Wrong Seat by Natasha D. Frazier

The Wrong Seat JustRead Blog + Review Tour

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for The Wrong Seat by Natasha D. Frazier, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: The Wrong Seat
Series
: Langston Sisters series #2
Author: Natasha D. Frazier
Publisher
: Encouraging Works
Release Date
: April 6, 2023
Genre
: Christian Romantic Suspense

Life doesn't return to normal for the Langston Sisters...

Compelled to get her family’s business back on solid ground after Crystal's arrest tanks their company's sales and reputation, Ava shoulders the responsibility to secure the biggest deal Langston Brands has had since inception. However, someone doesn’t like the idea and poisons her to thwart her mission. 

Ava’s father hires The Four Kings private security firm to protect Ava from the ongoing threats. When Zack Kingsland takes the job, he does so reluctantly. He’s been out of the field for five years since his last job cost him his ex-wife. Now that he’s back in the thick of things, he finds that he not only needs to protect Ava, but also his heart. 

A man of his word, Zack won’t compromise his assignment or Ava’s safety, not even for the growing feelings he has for her. How can Ava and Zack navigate their feelings without losing sight of the mission—to keep her safe? 

The Wrong Seat (Ava's story) is book 2 in The Langston Sisters series.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookDepository | BookBub


Excerpt


Zack waited a couple of minutes for Ava to leave the restaurant. When she cleared the doorway, he left a tip on the table for his own steak dinner and vacated the area. Zack stepped outside of the restaurant and eyed Ava across the parking lot at her car door. From a distance, she appeared wobbly. He didn’t see her drinking, so his interest piqued, and his internal alarm went off. Ava tumbled to the ground.

Maybe he’d been wrong and his instincts about this case were off. Zack sprinted across the parking lot. He darted his eyes around the area to see if he noted anything or anyone suspicious.

Nothing.

In twenty seconds, maybe less, Zack made it to her car and knelt at her side.

“Ava, Ava. Can you hear me?” Zack pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. She was still breathing, but her breath was shallow.

He didn’t think she had enough time for him to call for an ambulance, wait for them to arrive, then take her to a hospital.

Zack spotted her phone on the ground, a call in progress.

“I’m taking Ava to the hospital. She was passed out on the ground in the parking lot outside the Taste of Houston,” Zack said to the caller without introducing himself.

More Books in This Series

The Reunion


About the Author

Natasha D. Frazier fell in love with love around the age of twelve because of artists like Babyface, Boys II Men, Whitney Houston, and New Edition. Around sixteen when her mother purchased a romance novel and left it lying around the house untouched, Natasha read it and a spark for the written word had been ignited.

Natasha believes that writing is one of her purposes and contributions to the world. She feels accomplished when she can get a few words written and like blah when life gets in the way. Her hope is that at the end of every novel, readers will feel like they’ve been wrapped in a cozy blanket with a mug of their favorite coffee/tea/warm drink. 

When she isn’t reading or writing, she is likely watching movies with her family. Natasha resides in Richmond, TX with her husband, Eddie Frazier, Jr. and their three children, Eden, Ethan, and Emilyn. Her greatest joy and commitment is to her family who she hopes to inspire above all else. One of her many mottos in life is: Faith removes limitations. Natasha and her family attend Parkway Fellowship in Richmond, TX, where she volunteers as a small group leader for elementary students. Natasha is also a member of the Houston Area Alumni Chapter of Jackson State University and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 

Connect with Natasha by visiting natashafrazier.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.


Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a The Wrong Seat swag box and $10 Amazon gift card!

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 4, 2023 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 11, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours




Monday, April 3, 2023

Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway: Good Gifts by Kyle Hunter

Good Gifts JustRead Blog + Review Tour 

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Good Gifts by Kyle Hunter, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Good Gifts Title: Good Gifts 
Series: Brenner Falls #1 
Author: Kyle Hunter 
Publisher: Monceau Publishing 
Release Date: December 28, 2022 
Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance

Nathan Chisholm’s high-pressure job in the big city is interrupted by an inheritance he doesn’t want, a struggling dinner theater. He returns to his hometown of Brenner Falls, Pennsylvania, so he can sell it fast and return to his normal life.

Leah Albright’s plans for her life went up in smoke and she’s forgotten how to dream. Instead, she spends her days at a dull job in Brenner Falls and her evenings with musical instruments and her cat. As holidays approach, she fakes cheer to stave off her disappointments. 

Nathan and Leah rekindle the friendship they had in high school and attraction brews. But Nathan’s leaving town once he sells the theater. And the residents of Brenner Falls, including Leah, don’t want their beloved historic theater sold. And certainly not to the developer who’s been lurking around. 

Nathan finds himself trapped by well-meaning decisions and growing feelings for Leah. He may have gone too far to turn back from the risks to his future and his heart.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

 

Excerpt


From the corner of Davis Avenue, Leah could see Johnson’s Grocery Store, whose fluorescent lights spilled on to the sidewalk. Should she stop for groceries, or could she eke out the stale bread and bottled pasta sauce in her fridge for a day or two more? The seductive call of her warm slippers, or the rebuke of her empty fridge? Yesterday and the day before that, she’d opted for making do. Her stomach grumbled, so with a sigh, she changed her path and headed toward the store. This shouldn’t take long.

Gathering the items on her short list was as quick as she’d predicted, but the line at the cash register was not. She smiled at a few people she knew. Her neighbor, Cathy. Mr. Robertson from church. While she waited, she pulled her phone from her bag to see what she’d missed during the final pressured hours of work.

Leah frowned. Four missed calls from Garrett, her only brother, three years her senior. The one who never called. Ever. But he’d called four times that day.


Also Available

Prodigals in Provence A Promise in Provence


About the Author

Kyle Hunter

Kyle Hunter is the author of nine novels of inspirational romance and women’s fiction. Her relatable characters will become like close friends you’ll cheer for and learn from as you join them on their journeys. Story settings range from Europe to small town America. As characters face challenges, the insights they gain will always be relevant. Kyle spent thirteen years in France, and she’s intrigued by faraway places. Currently, she lives in North Carolina where she writes fiction, non-fiction (under the pen name K. B. Oliver) and the travel blog OliversFrance.com and teaches French to adults.

Connect with Kyle by visiting Kyle-Hunter.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Tour Giveaway

(2) winners will receive an ebook of Good Gifts, ebook of Prodigals in Provence, and $15 Amazon gift card!

Good Gifts JustRead Giveaway

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 3, 2023 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 10, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours


 


Monday, March 27, 2023

Review: Winning the Gentleman by Kristi Ann Hunter



My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing



Synopsis

Aaron Whitworth hasn't had control over most aspects of his life, but he's always taken pride in being an honorable businessman and better-than-average horseman. When both of those claims are threatened, he makes the desperate decision to hire the horse trainer of a traveling circus as a temporary jockey for his racehorses.

Sophia Fitzroy knows that most horsemen don't take her seriously because she's a woman, but she can't pass up the opportunity to get away from the tumultuous world of travel and performing. As she fights for the right to do the work she was hired for, she learns the fight for Aaron's guarded heart might be an even worthier challenge.

As secrets come to light, will Aaron and Sophia's past vulnerabilities be an insurmountable stumbling block, or will they sacrifice their former dreams and forge a new one together?


My Review

This book featuring Aaron and Sophia was my favorite of the series! There are complex dynamics with Aaron's family relationships and his subsequent place in society which have greatly influenced his outlook and personality. Sophia has a dream and even though the opportunity to ride for Aaron isn't what either of them had in mind, she couldn't pass up a job that allowed her and her brother leave the circus. Aaron has so many layers- difficult to read his emotions, stalwart, not quick to smile- so it was gratifying to be able to read from his perspective. Sophia creates quite a stir in Newmarket, upsetting the traditions and social mores when she is hired to ride as a jockey in official races. She also challenges Aaron in ways he's not prepared for, and I loved how their attraction and chemistry grew throughout the book. Sophia's brother Jonas plays an important role, and I loved his humor and support of Sophia. Aaron's friends take Sophia under their wing and even though she faces difficulty with her work, she finds a new family in Newmarket.

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

Don't miss the other books in the Hearts on the Heath series . . .