Audio: How the Dukes stole Christmas - Anthology

A Holiday Romance Anthology

By: Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, Joanna Shupe

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Historical romance

Release date: 12-04-18

• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Thank you Harper for this review copy!

My Thoughts

"Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare

Louisa Ward needs a Christmas miracle. Unless she catches a wealthy husband at the ball tonight, the horrid, heartless Duke of Thorndale will evict her family from their beloved Mayfair home. But when her friend begs to switch dance cards, Louisa finds herself waltzing with the enemy: the horrid, heartless--and unexpectedly handsome--Thorndale himself. Now the duke's holding her future in his hands...and he's not letting go.

This takes place under a rather magical night. Louisa meets her bitter enemy and shares a dance. And then they are sort of stuck with each other and get to know each other better. He is no ogre after all. No, James is a hardworking man who never wanted to be Duke. And Louisa just wants to save her family. 

It was a fun little story and I knew a little drama was coming but they handled it well.

"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean

Rich and ruthless, Eben, Duke of Allryd, has no time for holidays. Holidays are for whimsy and charm--the only two things his money cannot buy. Lady Jacqueline Mosby is full of both, even now, twelve years after she left to see the world. When Jacqueline returns for a single Christmas, Eben can't resist the woman he never stopped loving...or the future that had once been in reach. It will take a miracle to convince her to stay...but if ever there were a time for miracles, it's Christmas.

I was not that keen on this one. It was rather depressing for a Christmas story. Eben is lonely and does nothing else but work. Once upon a time he wanted to marry Jaqueline, but he was busy saving his Dukedom to be worthy of her so he forgot her. I mean idiot much!

Jack loved him for the 12 years she was away and now she is back.

It just left me with the feeling that if he forgot about her once he will do so again. Rather depressing yes.

Heiress Alone by Sophie Jordan 

When Annis Bannister's family leaves her behind in the rush to escape an impending snowstorm, she finds herself stranded in the Highlands, left to fend off brigands terrorizing the countryside, robbing homes locked up for winter. Her only hope falls on her neighbor, a surly hermit duke who unravels her with a look, then a kiss ... until she fears the danger to her heart outweighs the danger of brigands and snowstorms. 

I liked this one. The Duke is so grumpy, and Annis is well normal! She wants some peace and quiet to read and garden. Her family gives me Pride and Prejudice vibes. Mum wants to marry off the daughters and they are so loud ;)

Then it becomes Home alone and she is left behind and there are bandits. Luckily for her a grumpy Duke is nearby and sparks fly as they spar and fall in love.

Of course I would have ADORED an epilogue when her mum comes back and is all omg wasn't it great we forgot you so you could catch a Duke. All loud and such.

Christmas in Central Park by Joanna Shupe. 

Women all over America devour Mrs. Walker's weekly column for recipes and advice. No one knows Rose, the column's author, can't even boil water. When the paper's owner, Duke Havemeyer, insists she host a Christmas party, Rose must scramble to find a husband, an empty mansion, and a cook. But Duke is not a man easily fooled and she fears her perfect plan is failing--especially when Duke's attentions make her feel anything but professional. To save her career will she give up her chance at love?

What? No real Duke, just a guy named Duke? Blasphemy!

Wow, the theme really is that all these Dukes are grinches. This one works works and works some more.'

In romance, all romance is plausible. But here it did stretch a bit, they had not spoken a lot. They fell in love, but really it was just lust since he thought she was married after all. But hey love is love and then they lived happily ever after.

Conclusion.

A nice little anthology with Dukes who are grinches for different reasons and need a bit of Christmas joy and a beautiful woman to get all merry with it.

Narrator

Justine Eyre

I do like her stuff! She is great fun as a narrator! She make her characters come alive.

Audio: The Disasters - MK England

Narrated by: James Fouhey

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 18-12-2018

Language: English

Publisher: HarperAudio

My Thoughts:

For a bunch of disasters I thought they would be well more if a disaster! But the reasons why they flunked out where all reasonable.

Nax who wants to be a pilot so much! But tries too hard. This is his story.

Then he meets Z, her reason was a good one too. Not a disaster, just a messed up system.

Rion who, huh, I forgot why he was kicked out actually.

Case, who is like the smartest and should be there!

But obviously this Academy is flawed when they do not look deeper.

I think I would have liked it from their POVS too, to be honest, now we were in Nax's head so much and he has issues.

Terrorist attack. People are hunting for these kids instead. And they are just trying to stay alive and tell the truth of what happened.

The action and punches keep on coming. The bad guys are really bad and want them dead yesterday.  The book also manages to have a lot of diversity. Gender, sexuality, race, religion. Of course me being very non religious wonder why we need religion 200 years from now (sschhh do not mind me, that is one of those things one should not talk about) . Poor Kazakhstan gets a vad rep too, one would think they would have moved a bit forward in 200 years. But nope, humanity still have a lot of issues and anger. But then that is humanity for you, we all suck.

I would have wanted this to be adult, I feel that would really have kicked it up a bit. But being YA, some things were not fully explored. Oh and this would make a great tv series ;D A CW one.

Conclusion.
Fun, short, sci-fi, family is what you make of it

Narrator Fouhey

Nice job by him. At one time some voices did blend together, but that worked itself out. He had some different accents for the characters too to show their origins. I did like posh Tion the best.

Synopsis

Hotshot pilot Nax Hall has a history of making poor life choices. So it’s not exactly a surprise when he’s kicked out of the elite Ellis Station Academy in less than twenty-four hours.

But Nax’s one-way trip back to Earth is cut short when a terrorist group attacks the Academy. Nax and three other washouts escape—barely—but they’re also the sole witnesses to the biggest crime in the history of space colonization. And the perfect scapegoats.

On the run and framed for atrocities they didn’t commit, Nax and his fellow failures execute a dangerous heist to spread the truth about what happened at the Academy.

They may not be “Academy material,” and they may not get along, but they’re the only ones left to step up and fight. 

Audio: The Christmas Sisters - Sarah Morgan

12 hours, 32 minutes

Audio CD, Unabridged

Published November 6th 2018 by Harlequin Audio (first published September 25th 2018)

Women's fiction

Thank you Harper for this copy!

My Thoughts:

I thought this was more a romancy book, but it was women's fiction. The name fooled me but I was pleasantly surprised.

It is the story of four women. Suzanne who still has nightmares of an event 25 years ago. She tries to make every Christmas the best Christmas ever. And I get that. She tried so hard.

Hannah is the one who tries not to feel things, and never lets go. She has built this wall around her. And she has a secret! In a way I liked her the best.

Beth has a sort of midlife crisis. She has two kids, she is a stay at home mom, but she wants to work again and her husband does not get how much she actually does. Before you hate on the hubbie, he is a darling, truly, in the end. But Beth has to learn a thing or two too.

Posey is the youngest of the 3 siblings. She wants more than the village has to offer, but she does not want to tell her parents that so she stays. She was the fun one, the one least traumatized from the event that left them orphans.

There will be romance within all points. New love, old love rekindled, and letting yourself be loved. Not to mention connecting with family again. 

New truths will be had, there will be lots of Christmas preparations and maybe at last wounds will be healed.

And yes these people really should have discussed that accident long ago.

Family drama, and lots of it. And showing how old wounds can take a long time to heal

Conclusion:
I liked the story, and it made me wish for Christmas

Narrator Mandy Weston

She sounded so familiar, but have not heard her before. Strange. Or she just have one of those likable voices that you like at once. 

Synopsis

In the snowy Highlands of Scotland, Suzanne McBride is dreaming of the perfect cozy Christmas. Her three adopted daughters are coming home for the holidays and she can’t wait to see them. But tensions are running high…

Workaholic Hannah knows she can’t avoid spending the holidays with her family two years in a row. But it’s not the weight of their expectations that’s panicking her - it’s the life-changing secret she’s hiding. Stay-at-home mom Beth is having a personal crisis. All she wants for Christmas is time to decide if she’s ready to return to work - seeing everyone was supposed to help her stress levels, not increase them! Posy isn’t sure she’s living her best life, but with her parents depending on her, making a change seems risky. But not as risky as falling for gorgeous new neighbor Luke…

As Suzanne’s dreams of the perfect McBride Christmas unravel, she must rely on the magic of the season to bring her daughters together. But will this new togetherness teach the sisters that their close-knit bond is strong enough to withstand anything - including a family Christmas? 

A gentleman's game - Theresa Romain

Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages

Published February 2nd 2016 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Series: Romance of the Turf #1

Historical romance

Own

My Thoughts

This poor book did suffer a bit reading wise, I got a review book that had to be read, I got another review book that had to be read. So there was this break in the middle, but honestly, it was so easy jumping right back in!

Rosalind is not who she say she is (and I did wonder about that whole spy thing, secrets! I mean there must be more in other books I guess). Anyway, she was a good woman, just she had this debt, and she never did anything horrible. She told secrets.

Nathaniel was a gentleman. I liked his wit. Oh that humour of his *shakes head and smiles*

Horses have colic. They are going to a race. They fall in love. That is the book. Fun and light and like I said, a bit away did not make a different. And I liked that.

Nice.

Synopsis

Suave Nathaniel Chandler can just as easily talk himself into a willing lady's embrace as he can broker a business deal. But no amount of charm is sufficient to cloak a chilling, recent discovery: every one of his award-winning racehorses has suddenly and mysteriously fallen ill. 

Determined to discover the source of the problem, Nathaniel searches for all possible explanations. His suspicions fall on the alluring Rosalind Agate, his father's new secretary. But for the sake of both their livelihoods - and his recent attraction - Nathaniel sets aside his suspicions. Instead, he decides to use Rosalind's wit and her wiles as key components of his investigative team. 

As the upcoming race draws near, Nathaniel and Rosalind must use every trick up their sleeves to not only catch the culprit, but also satisfy the desire that burns between them…


No TMST today, Carole and I are doing a joint one later this year :=D