The Accidental Mistress by Tracey Anne Warren

Well-written and enjoyable romance

4 stars

In order to escape marriage to a brutal man, Lily Bainbridge stages her own death and, disguised as a boy, attempts to make her way to London and the independent life she’s always dreamed of. Her plans to awry with a chance encounter with the powerful and dangerously attractive Ethan Andarton, Marquis of Vessey.

Having agreed to a marriage of convenience simply to appease his family, Ethan has no intention of abandoning his rakish ways. But after meeting spirited Lily he is determined to make her his mistress, and find out all her secrets in the process. But when two people who never expected to find love, fall in love, it’s never going to be plain sailing.

This is the second in Warren’s Mistress trilogy after My Fair Mistress and before My Favourite Mistress. Despite having the characters from the first book appearing, you don’t need to have read the first book in the series to understand and enjoy this one.

Both Lily and Ethan are excellent characters with lots of chemistry between them. Despite Ethan being a worldly marquis and Lily a country miss, the relationship between the pair was refreshingly equal and to watch them fall in love, often despite their wishes, was a delight.

If I have one little criticism it’s that there were a few too many Americanisms as well as grammatical mistakes contained within the book. It just jars you from the story which is annoying.

I am fast becoming a huge fan of Tracy Anne Warren’s writing and this book is no exception. If you like fun, interesting and well-written romances then I would recommend this book to you.

To Ruin the Duke by Debra Mullins

Engaging story that falls a little flat

3 Stars

To fulfil a promise she made to her dying friend, Miranda Fontaine knows she must find Thornton Matherton, Duke of Wyldehaven. The sinful duke has been shocking the ton with tales of his drinking, gambling and debauchery and he is also the father of the baby Miranda now must care for.

Wylde has made it his mission to show the ton he’s not as disreputable as his father. That’s not so easy when he realises there’s someone posing as him and dragging his good name through the mud with scandalous exploits. He certainly doesn’t have time for a woman who claims he has a son.

Add in threats, betrayal and many secrets and soon Miranda and Wylde feel that they can only trust each other. But is trust all they feel?

If I’m honest, this book fell short of my expectations. There was quite a lot going on and while a lot of it was far fetched, some of it was needlessly pointless.

With so much going on, the romance often took a back seat and there wasn’t really enough interaction for me to ultimately believe in the happy ever after. Miranda and Wylde were enjoyable enough characters but I would have liked to see a little more depth to both them and their feelings. The love scenes were a little tepid, probably due to the lack of emotion between the two main characters.

Another annoyance of mine was the lack of epilogue. It was as if the danger was over, everything’s fine so the book was concluded without tying up a few loose ends. I’m hoping there are books concerning Wylde’s friends so we can see what happens with those loose ends.

I really wasn’t sure how many stars to give this book. The good points are that it is written well and I never got bored or felt it was a burden to continue with the story. It’s also engaging and readable despite all its other faults and so I’ll have to give it a high 3 stars.