After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros

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Taking a small break from my Maiden Lane binge, I was excited to start After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros. This is the first book in her Cabot series and the May book for the Rake Appreciation Society hosted by Jen and Crystal! What's fun is this is a historical romance AND a paranormal romance! Update: I have applied this book to the Romancing Summer Challenge for the new to me author prompt.

Our heroine Caroline has come to London to meet the beau of her sister Vivienne. Their youngest sister Portia however is aware of all the gossip (despite her and Caroline living in the country) and shares with Caroline that he's rumored to be a vampire. Caroline doesn't believe her, but is still wanting to meet the Viscount that is courting her sister and offer her blessing. However, she gets intrigued by his actions and Caroline starts to believe Adrian might actually be a vampire. 𝅘𝅥𝅮dun dun duuuuun~𝅘𝅥𝅮

The writing is so catching in this book and really drew me in. I couldn't put it down. I started this a couple hours before bed and kept finding myself saying "one more chapter" over and over. It just was so intriguing and kept taking turns I wasn't expecting. I also love the original meeting between Caroline and Adrian. She doesn't realize who he is and brings up the vampire gossip. They had such an instant connection and their banter was so perfect. I love meet cutes like this, especially in historicals. This book also has my favorite trope, wrong sibling. I loved how despite Caroline having to be the parental figure to her two sisters, she still wanted and yearned to be more to someone else. Their first embrace she thinks that she couldn't help leaning into him and letting him help hold her burdens for just a moment. It really hit me and I could relate to Caroline in a lot of ways. 

I really struggled with rating this book. I ended up giving it 4-stars, but maybe it's more like a 4.5-stars. I just didn't think it was quite 5-stars. The biggest reason why is the ending with the villain. It just felt super rushed. I also didn't like the whole "white fang" talk where Adrian tried to push Caroline away to keep her safe. I did like how she fought back and kept trying to not allow him to push her away and that their "separation" didn't last that long. However, once the villain acts everything just flips a little too quickly for Adrian both romantically and for how long he's helped his brother. Even though this is more a 4.5-stars for me, I don't think I'll round up my rating on goodreads like usual. I did enjoy this book and am intrigued to read the second. I'll probably add it to the paranormal readathon that's later this month (tbr coming Monday!). Also, a side note, for my statistics I'm listing this as a paranormal romance. Yes it's also historical, but since the paranormal aspect is more unique, I'm going with that. This is most definitely both sub-genres though and I can see readers of both enjoying this book. This was such a fun read and I couldn't put it down!

Have you read After Midnight?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: After Midnight, Teresa Medeiros, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 370 pages, published in 2005

Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt

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Moving right along with Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series, I came to the recent villain of the series in Duke of Sin. This is the 10th book of the series and the first in the last chunk of books, what I'll refer to as the Lords of Chaos.

Our couple is the Duke of Montgomery himself, Valentine and his housekeeper Bridget. This book was a little bit of a struggle for me. Val has suffered a lot of trauma and had a very terrible childhood. As a result, his main goal in life seems to be to obtain power to control everyone around him to protect the few he loves. We've seen him blackmail several of our previous main characters (on top of being behind Phoebe's kidnapping attempts). Where I get torn is he's supposed to be the villain, but he doesn't feel like a villain. Yes he does things that are not cool and have hurt those we've come to adore in previous books. At the same point it didn't feel like evil intent to me. It almost felt like the Psy from Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series where he doesn't quite understand emotions and how they actually make someone feel. He knows and understands some, but is very stunted emotionally.

If I were to be more specific in rating, this would be more of a 3.5-star rating. I didn't quite like the way that Bridget and Val's relationship evolved. She was fine and I liked that she was a spy to help her mother and other ladies in the syndicate. I just didn't feel the emotional attachment to her and the sudden attraction felt weird. I understand and have enjoyed insta-lust and insta-love before, but I just found it weird that she didn't find him appealing at all, especially when studying his life-size nude painting (which let's be honest, I kind of love that he has), but then face to face suddenly she can't stay away from him. At this point she's been his housekeeper for several months (at least). I also didn't like how all of sudden she was taken in as Lazarus's sister. I wish that aspect had happened earlier in the book and we could actually see their connection form. I wanted more from that plot point.

With Val's emotional deficiencies I wanted more of a morality chain feel from Bridget as well. However, she obviously had her own issues and wasn't completely good/right. On top of the fact that he didn't feel evil enough to need a morality chain. I know I just contradicted myself, but that's how this book makes me feel. He just was a bad guy that did bad things, but still didn't feel aware of how his actions would effect those around him. It was like he was a manipulative mastermind, but only on a surface level. I guess I just wanted him to feel and be a real villain. Just dive right in and be dark through and through.

I still enjoyed the writing and most of the time I enjoyed the banter and conversations between Val and Bridget. And then he went and kidnapped Hippolyta, so that happened. It was such a throw away event though. It happened and Bridget immediately rescued her, then it was over. I'm excited to jump back into the series and finish it up after I'm done with a book club book. I'll definitely read Once Upon a Moonlit Night (the 10.5 novella) next because we get to see what happened to Hippolyta after she escapes Val. I'm a little sad she didn't get a full length book though since she's intrigued me since we first met her. I can't believe I only have two full length books left, but am excited to finish the series!

Have you read Duke of Sin?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Duke of Sin, Elizabeth Hoyt, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 338 pages, published in 2016

Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt

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Moving right along, the next book in my binge of the Maiden Lane series by Elizabeth Hoyt is book 9, Sweetest Scoundrel. If you've come along on this binge with me, I've been reading these for the live show hosted by Jenn at The Book Refuge. I managed to squeak this one in on time and ended up reading 9 (and 1/2) of the 12 books! Update: I have applied this book to the Romancing Summer Challenge for the flowers on the cover prompt.

This book wraps up the Harte's Folley chunk and gives us the beautiful HEA for Eve (the Duke of Montgomery's half-sister) and Asa. What I really enjoyed about this book is that they weren't instantly attracted to each other at first. Eve is different than Asa's normal "type," but he still finds himself drawn to her. Eve has suffered a lot of trauma and can't stand to be around dogs or touched or be around men.

Her trauma was difficult to get through, however I feel torn on how it was dealt with. I liked that the little touches (helping out of a carriage, brushing arms when walking, etc.) were enough to give her pause and I loved how natural it felt when she started to feel comfortable around Asa. He also really liked to tease her a lot and I adored when she almost didn't know what to do with herself or what she was feeling. However, once Asa realized she felt desire for him, I feel like they started rushing things. It didn't feel rushed and I understand that there comes a point when you let go a lot and want more, but it just felt slightly off at times. I also loved her Dove and Henry the mastiff she rescued (despite being terrified of dogs). 

While I really enjoyed this book as well, it just didn't leave me feeling as settled as the previous books. I think part of it was the secondary plot (once again) and the person trying to destroy the theatre. It just felt kind of rushed at the end (again) and there wasn't really any clues on who was behind everything. I know that that's part of the fun of a mystery, but I feel like there should've been more questions on who it actually was and not the wrong person almost the entire time. I don't know, it just felt unnecessary with all of the emotional work that they both had to do to reach happiness. It just felt like too much or not fleshed out enough (again). We also get the lead in to the last set of the series, what I'll call the Lords of Chaos chunk. I'm super excited to continue the series and hopefully will get through the last three books and few novellas by the end of the month!

Have you read Sweetest Scoundrel?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Sweetest Scoundrel, Elizabeth Hoyt, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 368 pages, published in 2015

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt

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The 8th book in Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series is Dearest Rogue. I've been waiting for this book since being introduced to Phoebe in Notorious Pleasures. If you've read my previous reviews you probably already know this, but if this is my first post you're reading, I've been bingeing the Maiden Lane series lately. A lot of booktube and bookstagrammer personalities have recently read this series. In late April Jenn from The Book Refuge announced that she was going to do a live show on May 8th discussing the series. It had been on my tbr for a while, so I figured I'd get through as many as I could before the live. Since this is actually scheduled to be posted after, the link above is to the show! Update: I have applied this book to the Romancing Summer Challenge for the plus size prompt.

As I mentioned above, this book focuses on Lady Phoebe, the younger sister of the Duke of Wakefield and Lady Hero. We'd been introduced to our Hero previously, Captain James Trevillion. He used to captain the dragoon company that was patrolling in St. Giles. Since his injury, James has been too injured to continue service and Wakefield has hired him to be a guard/escort for Phoebe. We've seen her losing her sight throughout the series, but she's pretty much blind at this point. One day while shopping on Bond Street there is a kidnapping attempt on Phoebe. During the second attempt, James gets upset with himself and his disability and resigns as her guard. Phoebe ends up getting kidnapped after he leaves, but he rescues her and whisks her off to a safe space that nobody knows about. 

I really loved how drawn together Phoebe and James were, but that it was Phoebe to make the first move. Yes there is a class/station difference (which I'm normally not a fan of), and yes James thinks he's not good enough for Phoebe (which can be angsty), but I really loved the quiet moments between them. When they are running from the first kidnapping attempt, they have a quiet moment on the horse being in such close contact in a different way. I love the moments when James almost wraps himself around Phoebe, a lot of the time when dealing with horses. I also really liked the way that being around horses was another way for them to connect. Another reason this was a slam dunk for me is there wasn't much secondary plot. There's her whole kidnapping issues, but it's minor and in the background. I much prefer that, as I'm sure you could tell from my previous reviews of this series.

It did take me a little longer than normal to get through this, even with how much I loved it. Mostly it's because I read it during the week and I've been absolutely exhausted after work lately. It's just that time of year. Fun story, I finished this book about 7pm after work. I was planning on immediately starting the next, however I woke up at 1am with everything still on and my tv still playing the classical station (I listen to that while I read). Apparently my body just wanted to sleep. I am super excited to read the next book, especially after getting introduced to Eve in this one. One thing Elizabeth Hoyt does really well is her epilogues. It's a great hook to keep you wanting to move forward in her series. I'm so glad they are all out now and I don't have to wait months, if not years for the next book after that teaser!

Have you read Dearest Rogue?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Dearest Rogue, Elizabeth Rogue, 5-stars, eBook, 2 days, 326 pages, published in 2015

Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

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After a quick detour to start the Romancing Summer Challenge, we are back to Book 7 of Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series, Darling Beast. This book starts the next little chunk of books in the series which I'll call the Harte's Folley chunk. After meeting Apollo in the previous book, I was super excited to see him heal from his injuries and find his own HEA. Update: I have applied this book to the Romancing Summer Challenge for the backlist prompt.

Lily, our heroine, is the premiere actress of the time and highly regarded. She's been mentioned in previous books by her stage name of Robin Goodfellow. It's also been pointed out that she does "breeches" roles, which a lot of the ladies love. We come to find out that Apollo is friends and business partners with Asa Makepeace and all his capital (that he invested before put in bedlam) was put towards Harte's Folley. However, it was burned down in the previous book. He is hiding out and redoing the landscaping and gardens. He's actually been trained in it before his grandfather got wind and forced him to stop since he's heir to the earldom. Asa had made a deal with Lily to be exclusive to his theatre, but since it's burned down she has no income. In exchange he allows her, her son Indio and her friend (she's more like godmother/caretaker/lady's maid) to stay in one of the theatre rooms that wasn't completely destroyed. One day Indio mentions the monster in the garden and they come to find out that it's really Apollo and since he's been gardening in the mud and ash, he's very dirty.

I really enjoyed their love story and liked how everything was laid out. Why this is 4-stars and not 5 is that I wanted more of a connection between them before he regained his voice. It was very sweet the moment he first talks, screaming Indio's name in terror as a tree is falling towards him. I just wish that the connection between them was a little bit stronger before not only he regains his voice, but he goes about hunting the actually murderer that set Apollo up. There's twists in the plot that Lily ends up at the same house party and they finally get intimate, but I was missing the other types of intimacy. It just felt a lot more rushed than previous books and more insta-love. I did love Apollo and Indio's relationship and how he just followed him around everywhere and just watched him work from the bushes. 

The plot around the murders of Apollo's "friends" was kind of obvious to me. It didn't pull too much from the romance since it was also directly associated with Apollo, but as I think this maybe it did since I felt the romance was rushed. It didn't seem like it was obviously taking away from the story. I also am intrigued by the Duke of Montgomery and am interested to see how he plays into everything. I feel like the overall plot keeps evolving, which I really like. I feel like if we were still dealing with the gin stills and Ghost of St. Giles directly I would've started to get a little bored. It helps that she is doing major plots in three book chunks.

I am super excited to continue my binge and can't wait for the next book. I've been waiting for Phoebe's book since we met her in book 2, and I am so excited for the romance between her and Captain Trevillion. I'm really enjoying the series so far and can't wait to see what happens next!

Have you read Darling Beast?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Darling Beast, Elizabeth Hoyt, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 321 pages, published in 2014