Readers love Evie Dunmore’s progressive historical romances and why not? Her storylines are compelling and her leads always have a boatload of chemistry. Our review of Portrait of a Scotsman is here.)

Hattie Greenfield is studying art at Oxford University, but is frustrated at not being taken seriously – even by her professors, who are condescending to all the female students.  She longs to create more meaningful work and paint more challenging subjects – and hopes to gain some inspiration from the work of the Pre-Raphaelites.  To this end, she arranges to join a tour to view John Everett Millais’ famous painting of Ophelia, which is currently in the collection belonging to one Mr. Blackstone – a man with a reputation so black society has dubbed him “Beelzebub”, and who happens to be one of her father’s business rivals – but when she arrives at the gallery at the appointed time, she’s concerned to discover that either she’s late for the tour, or that nobody else has arrived.  While she’s waiting to view the painting, a man enters the room – a darkly attractive man with hard grey eyes and unruly black hair – who offers to give her the whole tour… and promptly kisses her instead.

Lucian Blackstone (whom we met briefly in A Rogue of One’s Own) is a self-made man with a reputation for cold-blooded ruthlessness in his business dealings.  Born into a Scottish mining community, he’s survived real hardship and suffering, but has pulled himself up from nothing to become a captain of industry and amass a fortune along the way.  He never forgets where he came from though, and is determined to do whatever he can to improve the lots of the people who work for him.  But while he’s very wealthy, he has little real power or influence, and he needs both if he’s going to be able to bring about the changes he wants to effect; so in order to make himself more… acceptable to society, he has begun the attempt to rehabilitate his fearsome reputation.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t met with much success so far, but his brief meeting with Greenfield’s daughter has given him the germ of an idea as to what his next move should be.  And while there are a number of well-bred young ladies in society who would suit his purpose, he’s rather surprised to find there’s really only one of them he wants.

It’s not a spoiler – it’s in the blurb – to say that it’s not long before Hattie and Blackstone are married, and even though Hattie is wildly attracted to her new husband, it’s far from the sort of marriage she had envisioned for herself.  She’d wanted to find a true life-partner, someone who would share his time – and himself – with her, someone she deeply loved and who would love her the same way, and I liked that about her, that she wants love and affection and family and doesn’t see that desire as somehow ‘lesser’ – while at the same time being determined to attain her independence and be herself.

It’s on sale today at Amazon for 1.99 here.

Again, I have a soft spot for Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Match Me If You Can is an AAR reader favorite–we gave it a rave review which you can read here.

Given that Annabelle Granger can claim a variety of failed careers at the age of 31, she is more than determined to make the most of her latest opportunity. Her grandmother has just bequeathed Matches by Myrna, her struggling matchmaking business, to Annabelle, complete with an old computer and outdated client list. Changing the name to Perfect for You, Annabelle sees herself as a marriage facilitator rather than a matchmaker and hopes her highly competitive family will finally leave her alone once she succeeds. She lives in her grandmother’s old home, drives her grandmother’s old car, and largely deals with her grandmother’s old clients. But Annabelle has a plan – land a well-known, highly desirable male client, find him a wife, and just watch her business take off!

Heath Champion, owner of a leading sports management firm, has fought his way to the top one client at a time. A blue collar kid from a bad home, Heath attended college on a football scholarship, earned a law degree from Harvard, and then quickly established himself as one of the best sport agents in the country. Part of his plan for success includes marrying his ideal woman by the age of 35, but Heath decides that he is just too busy to contribute the time and effort necessary to find her. His wife would be the ultimate symbol of his accomplishments – the calm in his storm. She should be somewhere between 22 and thirty, polished, beautiful, sweet, domestic, athletic, brilliant, socially connected, submissive, and of course, hot. He decides to treat his search for a wife as he would any other part of his business by hiring Power Matches, the best matchmaking agency in Chicago that specializes in finding trophy wives for powerful, discriminating men who can’t find the time to do it themselves and are rich enough to pay their exorbitant fees.

Heath represents Kevin Tucker, the starting quarterback for the Chicago Stars, and, in an attempt to placate his wife Molly, agrees to meet with her good friend Annabelle concerning his search for a wife. Heath has no intention of using Annabelle’s matchmaking services since he’s already signed with Power Matches and has no time to waste with his age deadline less than a year away. However, Annabelle is convinced that a match for Heath will make her reputation and refuses to take no for an answer. Heath can hardly believe he is allowing this badly dressed owner of such a screwball operation to strong-arm him into an introduction, but he reasons that Annabelle’s desperate earnestness deserves some reward and challenges her to bring her best candidate to meet him the following night for a twenty minute introduction. Both characters strongly captured my attention in this humorous opening scene – Annabelle is lovable as the queen of mishaps and Heath is the perfect picture of a commanding, sexy hero.

Much to Heath’s amazement, he is quite taken with Annabelle’s first candidate and finds himself signing yet another matchmaking contract even though he doesn’t have all that much confidence in Annabelle continuing to deliver such outstanding introductions. Still, two agencies providing prospective mates might prove advantageous.

It’s on sale at Amazon for 1.99 here.

Soulless is an very fun steampunk set paranormal romance. (Our review is here.)

Soulless, author Gail Carriger’s impressive debut and the first entry in that delightfully titled series, is almost equal parts comedy of manners, alternate reality, steampunk, paranormal, and romance. And, just to get it out of the way, the book is unmistakably heavy on the latter, so, if you need your HEA to be happy, you get it here.

Victorian spinster Alexia Tarabotti is a familiar character to romance readers: Forthright, prickly, saddled with a dim-witted and shallow family who doesn’t understand or value her, and in possession of nose that’s too long and skin that’s too dark for fashion, courtesy of her late Italian father. Since childhood her mother has relegated Alexia to spinsterhood, and, for the most part, it’s a role she’s comfortable playing. Sounds familiar, right?

But unlike those other characters we’ve come to know, Alexia lives in a different Victorian London. In her world, vampires and werewolves are accepted in society and, in true Victorian fashion, are also ruthlessly regulated with their very own dedicated civil service bureau (the Bureau of Unnatural Registry – or BUR) tasked with keeping them in line. The book’s title refers to Alexia’s unfortunate condition. In a world in which supernatural creatures are thought to come about due to an excess of soul, she is one of the rare ones born without any at all. Though everything this means to her is not entirely clear, the reader does learn that those who are soulless have the ability to be deadly to supernatural creatures.

The plot centers around Alexia and her longtime verbal sparring partner, Lord Maccon, an alpha werewolf and the head of BUR, attempting to discover just who (or what) is causing rogue vampires and werewolves to disappear. Just as disturbingly, dangerous baby vamps are appearing in their place -creatures who don’t even know (much less play by) the rigid rules that keep supernatural society and the human race coexisting in mutual tolerance.

The charms of the book lie in the author’s steampunk Victorian London (dirigible rides above the city are all the crack) and the detailed, but never info-dumpy way that she builds it; wickedly smart dialogue; highly likable primary characters and satisfying secondary ones; and a story that moves along nicely. All good. Really good.

It’s on sale for 2.99 here.

Kristan Higgins’ books are just so darn nice–read one and you’ll feel better about the world. Just One of the Guys, an early romance, isn’t her best but the heroine is the bomb. (You can read our review here.)

Just One of the Guys has a unique, appealing heroine. For the most part, this was a fun read. If it weren’t for a few incidents late in the book, I would have assigned it a much higher grade.

Chastity O’Neil has been in love with Trevor Meade since she was a little girl and befriended him after the death of his young sister. Ignored by his parents, Trevor became a fifth son to the large O’Neil family. Though Chastity and Trevor had a brief affair when she was a freshman in college, he’s treated her like a sister ever since.

Chastity moves back to her small hometown to take a job as an editor at the local newspaper. Though she longs for a relationship with Trevor, she’s realistic and, since she wants a family, she takes active steps to reach that goal. She signs up for an online dating service, attends a singles’ shopping night at the local grocery store, and puts the word out to her friends and family. Then, Chastity inadvertently meets gorgeous doctor Ryan Darling.

Ryan and Trevor are complete opposites. Ryan is a successful, wealthy doctor from an upscale family who seems to share few interests with Chastity. Trevor is a firefighter who works under the supervision of Chastity’s father; together they share a love of sports, their small town, and the O’Neil family.

I thoroughly enjoyed Chastity, who is bright and hard-working. She describes herself as looking like a teamster; she’s nearly six feet tall, has broad shoulders, and is physically fit. She also lives a full life. In addition to family dinners, and meeting up with her brothers at a local bar, she baby-sits for assorted nieces and nephews. Chastity is a huge sports fan and an athlete, and competes in marathons, rows every morning, and walks her dog. We also get to see Chastity at work. As if that weren’t enough, she’s taking an EMT class.

I liked the author’s descriptions of Chastity’s home town. Various scenes are described so vividly, that I felt as if I was right there and, rather than taking away from the plot, it helps reinforce why Chastity wanted to move back to her home town.

This book won’t appeal to readers who want their heroine and hero to be together the entire book. This didn’t bother me at first, but after a while I became impatient and wanted the romance resolved. Even so, though, until I was about three-quarters of the way finished, I intended to assign a higher grade. Then, late in the book, something happens that I can’t describe in detail, but Trevor behaves in a way I really didn’t like, and I think other readers might have the same reaction. My grade then tumbled.

It’s on sale at Amazon for 0.99 today here.

You can see all our current deals at our Amazon storefront here.

As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn a very small percentage of whatever you buy using our links. And remember, we get a percentage of EVERYTHING in your cart when you’ve begun your shopping with our links. That tiny sliver of money is what enables us to stay on line, so please, visit our links and click through to Amazon. Thanks!