Duke most wicked by Lenora Bell

Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick

Series: Wallflowers vs. Rogues, Book 3

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Release date: 09-27-22

Publisher: HarperAudio

Historical romance/to review

I remember him now from a previous book, what an ass I thought. But like all rakish Dukes this one also has to be reformed.

Viola is the music teacher to a Dukes younger sisters. She is great at het job and she loves music and composing. She is also fancies the very annoying Duke.

Brendan is a rake. I get that his childhood was rought, but gambling his sisters dowries away, and giving them all bad reps. Man up Brendan!

They both like each other, but she just works for him, and he needs an heiress. But we all know it works out in the end and they live happily ever after.

Fun romance. I do wonder if his sisters is getting a series too?

Good narration. I have listened to and enjoyed this narrator before.

Scarred by a dark secret, Brandan Delamar, Duke of Westbury, must concede his misdeeds have finally caught up with him. With five younger sisters to support, he must marry for money.

Sunny and steadfast, Viola Beaton is no heiress. As music instructor to the duke’s sisters, she’s developed a genuine affection for the bright young ladies. Unfortunately, she’s also developed a forbidden passion for her wildly attractive employer.

It must be the way he inspires her to compose sonatas about moonlight and kisses. Or how his gaze smolders and lingers on her skin. Or because he makes her heart whisper impossible things.

When Westbury decrees that he’ll choose not only a bride, but grooms for his sisters, Viola can’t allow him to curtail their freedom. She strikes a bargain: if he allows his sisters to attend the Season, Viola will chaperone them and keep them safe from scandal.

Only…what if Viola and the duke are the ones most likely to cause a scandal?

The love hypothesis

Format: 356 pages, Paperback

Published: September 14, 2021 by Berkley Books

Contemporary romance /Library

Finally a hyped book that was actually good! I am so scared of them cos hype books usually turn out to suck. But not this one (though wtf tiktok was talking about this one being smutty I do not know).

Olive is one busy woman and then well she needs a pretend boyfriend and her "victim" turns out the be the strict professor everyone is scared of. She is fun, sweet and I liked her.

Adam, well yes he is super grumpy, but also super sweet behind that facade. And him with her, oh I liked it from the start. They were perfect for each other, and the pretend relationship needed to be real!

Awww these two. A sweet book and I loved the stem world, I truly need to read more of her books...all of them!!

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding... six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Children of the catastrophe by Sarah Shoemaker

Narrated by: Olivia Dowd

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Release date: 09-06-22

Publisher: HarperAudio

Historical fiction / to review

I kept thinking when listening, this is gonna get ugly, this will end badly, omg is it happening now?! But Smyrna seemed to weather the storm...for a time.

All is well is Smyrna, well as well it can be as second class citizens in Turkey. Liana is a young woman ready for marriage, and it was quite interesting seeing how the Greeks did it in Smyrna. And she does get chosen, Vassili is a really good man ad they have a happy marriage.

But, world war 1 happens. The Spanish flu happens. The Armenian genocide happens. The genocide of Greeks in Turkey happens. And so far sort of good. Smyrna seemed to be a safe harbour. But I knew, I knew something bad was coming. The Greeco-Turk was happens. And living as a Greek in Turkey wont end happily.

I do warn you, any book with genocide, well you know people will die. Also wtf is wrong with humankind?! And we can't say oh that was a 100 years ago, it is happening right now. Soldiers raping, killing, mutilating. Humankind is evil, and soldiers turn into animals. But it is also a book that needs to be read, for example we all know which country that has not admitted to the genocide of Armenians.

But yes, a book about living in the shadows of bad thing, and continuing to the end.

And then, something bad did happen, and I cried and cried. It broke me.

A good book that should be listened to.

Excellent narration. She had this calm voice and it was like I was there. A haunting story.

It is 1908 and Smyrna is the most cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean Sea. Though long a part of the Ottoman Empire, Smyrna has always been Greek, and its citizens honor the traditions of previous generations. The Demirigis and Melopoulos families are no different, and now Liana Demirigis will wed the only Melopoulos son, Vassili--a marriage arranged by her parents.

After the wedding, Liana and Vassili build an idyllic life for themselves and their children outside of the city, safe from rising political tensions roiling the region and the world. But less than a decade later, the growing divisions between the Greeks and Turks threaten to boil over. When each country chooses a different side with the outbreak of the Great War, a hunger to reclaim Izmir consumes Greece. Suddenly Liana and her family, like thousands of others like them, are thrust into danger . . . and many will not survive.

Children of the Catastrophe is a beautifully told story that unfolds through the experiences of the Melopoulos family--their loves and quarrels, their hopes and disappointments, played out against a world on fire. Sarah Shoemaker artfully draws us into her characters' rich lives and evocatively captures all that was lost as hostilities mount and innocent men, women, and children find themselves caught up in forces beyond their control.

TMST

 

 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

9/27/2022 Do you follow your favourite authors on social media? Do you interact with them?

Not really no, I might follow some by chance, but no I do not really go out of my way to find my favorite authors, or interact with them.  Only if I happen to see something. But I guess I just do not have the time

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

If you are interested in participating in TMST or receiving periodic emails that list the upcoming TMST topics and questions,  please fill out this GOOGLE FORM.  Participation is optional and never required.