Ice Angel by Elizabeth Hanbury

Synopsis:

 When mysterious young widow Lady Isabella Vane arrives in London, she is quickly christened the "Ice Angel" because of her reserved manner and ethereal beauty. While society wonders at the reasons for Lady Vane's demeanor and the secrets that lurk in her past, the Earl of Bramwell continues in his devil-may-care approach to life. Hal has no desire for serious relationships with women since his own bitter disappointment several years earlier. However, once their paths cross, Hal's interest is sparked and he becomes obsessed with discovering what lies beneath the ravishing Isabella's icy exterior. But can Isabella ever overcome her past to find love?

This will be quick. I liked this enough. I liked the premise, the two main characters had each been romantically hurt in the past, Isabella more than Hal. Even though I rolled my eyes at her initial prejudice against him, I got over that quickly enough and began to enjoy(ish) the story. However where this book fell short in my opinion was with the contrived 'drama'/obstacle that occurred. It was the same thing that I've seen time and time again and I could see it coming from 25 miles away. And to be honest I always feel cheated/disappointed when an authour goes for the formulaic instead of the original... Otherwise it was a pleasant if not spectacular or particularly imaginative read.

Note 3.25 Stars. Content: kisses, one wedding night scene where sex is described using abstract/poetic/flowery language as opposed to descriptive/graphic language. So the book is cleanish depending on your version of what clean is.

Neanderthal Seeks Human: A Smart Romance by Penny Reid

Source:Goodreads

My faith in contemporary romance has been renewed. I took a huge break from all things contemporary romance. For a month or so I have solely read historicals because I was completely over the mind numbing brainless drivel I'd been reading. Seriously, I almost gave up reading all together because I'd become so frustrated that every book seemed to be the same and the characters all fell in love in ten seconds within three words of speaking to each other. I felt like I was loosing my mind. Like maybe there were chapters missing to every book I read where the characters actually spoke to each, got to know each other, and were justified in their 'feelings'. So for the sake of my sanity, I took a break. But then I got equally frustrated at how hard it was to find a good historical romance that was clean, that I hadn't already read. I kept reading solid three star books and well, I don't like settling for good when I could have great, so again I began to feel book-frustrated.

Anyway, unto this book. I've had this on my Goodreads to-read list for like 3 months. However, the reviews were mixed as to whether or not it was clean and so I hesitated in reading. For some reason yesterday I decided to try it out and thank God I did! This was so freaking awesome. I can't even deal with the relief and satisfaction that I feel after reading this.

Thoughts:

The attraction and tension in this was so freaking delicious. Like, it was palpable, tangible, thick enough to bite. It. Was. Delicious. But this book was the full package because although the tension was delicious, so was the actual story. Like I've read so many books and combined with the fact that some authours are sort of just churning out the same story, I'm hardly ever surprised anymore. But Penny Reid didn't go with the formulaic, cookie cutter, this has worked before so I'll just repeat it story lines. It was original. Like I could never have seen who Jon cheated with coming. I was legit surprised. I loved that there were actual conversations in this book, where they legit talked lol. I loved Janie's stream of conciousness, and will we ever learn about the Japanese kids and eye contact?

I'm gonna wrap this up because I have part two waiting for me. But all in all this was awesome, it was obvious that time was spent with this, the angst is minimal, so is the drama, the characters are all reasonable. It was quirky without trying too hard. And my faith in the genre is restored.

Note: Clean: sex happens behind closed doors. Only kissing is described. 4.5 stars. I'm not sure if the other books in the series is clean, but I'll keep reading to find out.

ETA: Unfortunately for me the rest of the series isn't clean :(

An Unexpected Gentleman by Alissa Johnson

Source: goodreads

Synopsis:

Adelaide Ward has but one goal- to obtain an offer of marriage from the respectable, if less-than-appealing, baron Sir Robert Maxwell before her family is ruined. But it's the devilishly handsome Connor Brice who captures her imagination- and a kiss in broad daylight- in front of a dozen members of the ton. Now Adelaide must decide if the charming scoundrel who stole away her reputation might still be trusted with her heart.
Connor Brice seeks a long overdue revenge on the baron. And what better way to launch his campaign than to steal the lovely Miss Ward for his own? A quick "compromising" and an even quicker wedding ought to do. But if Connor wants to establish any sort of domestic tranquility, he'll have to regain Adelaide's trust and choose what means more to him- his thirst for vengeance or his need for Adelaide.

You know I've read like 25 books since I last posted. Beginning to end. But they were all like solid three star books and so I wasn't moved to actually write about them. And I wasn't completely convinced that I was going to write about this one until the very end. I liked this book because it was different. The hero was a bit/ a lot of a douche. And he didn't apologise for it. And I'm not talking the normal douchey ness of rakes that are so common in historical romances. I mean, this dude could've been a villain. He was manipulative and self serving, but since he didn't ever act with the intention of harming the heroine, I didn't hate him. In fact, the reader is made to understand his reprehensible actions even though we don't agree with them.

I liked this book because I applaud Alissa Johnson for stepping outside of character norms. I found myself laughing quite a bit at several moments in this book. And am still left feeling a bit dazed/confused. Like, I know I shouldn't have liked the hero but I really did. In fact, I liked him so much that I'm going to read another Alissa Johnson book, right now.

Note: Contains sex between a married couple. The sex isn't overly descriptive, squint and you'd miss it. So like 98% clean. 3.5 stars.