 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I can always count on Joanna Shupe to deliver the heat & the Gilded Age decadence & drama I’m looking for & The Duke Gets Even brought both of those…also an impoverished somewhat-uptight-but-not-really duke who *FINALLY* gets his happy ever after. The events at the beginning of this book overlap with some of the things we’ve seen in previous books in the series—namely how Duke Lockwood—Andrew Talbot—meets the beautiful, not-bound-by-convention Nellie Young & how she drives him a little bonkers with lust on the periphery of his various engagements/entanglements. This is a fast, lusty historical with another Shupe lead who is gone for the heroine. Nellie really shines for me as an unmarried woman pursuing her pleasure, no matter what society says. Though I wasn’t super enamored initially with the Duke—who annoyed me with what he was wanting to do with Nellie while also prepared to get engaged / be engaged to someone else—his desire for her was a welcome development. But while this book is sexy & fun & I really loved how Nellie’s dad just wants her to be happy & vice versa, I didn’t feel like Nellie’s change of heart regarding “conventional” HEAs is thoroughly set up & developed. Similarly, I wanted more set up for how their serious feelings develop so quickly—despite their antagonism for each other & how often he scandal-shames her. So this is another entertaining, hot read but also a bit superficial for me in terms of the relationship arc. 3.5⭐️. Out now!CWs: Heart defect. Previous one-time cocaine use. Death of mother. “Whore" remark. Sexual assault. Previous abortion.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.With Ashley Herring Blake’s Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail we’re back with the same magnetic, loving, boisterous & balanced friend group, this time watching Astrid—who feels an imperative to always seem calm, cool, & collected—take on the renovation of a beloved inn before the eyes of the inn’s family members, a tv crew…& as always, her overbearing mother. Also before the eyes of carpenter Jordan Everwood, the same woman who Astrid had a nasty moment with at the end of Delilah’s book & the beginning of her own, about some spilled coffee & her power dress. Astrid isn’t someone who is open easily—we see that even with her close circle—& it’s lovely watching her find that safe place to land with the person who she started off so antagonistically with. Jordan, too, needs that safe place. As always, my heart cheered for two people finding a home & a refuge with each other, especially when I can relate to one of them in some way (hello self-consciousnesses & fear of failure etc. it’s nice to see you again ). This book has an interesting tension that strikes at the heart of what both women desire for themselves, heart-grabbing backstories about growing up & in the present, trying to wrestle back an identity & purpose for themselves, & that aforementioned wonderful group of friends. The “villain” in this story feels a bit obvious & I would have liked a bigger conclusion to that whole storyline, but on the whole, this is another emotional, powerful, sensual read with a great group of characters. Can’t wait for Iris’s book! 4.5⭐️. Out 11/22.CWs: mother’s manipulation & overbearingness, & there’s a reference to her homophobia. Jordan’s ex wife had cancer & left her soon after learning she was in remission.
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About me.Give me that HEA, please.
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