Book Review: A RECKLESS MATCH by Kate Bateman

       A RECKLESS MATCH 

by 

Kate Bateman

Author: Kate Bateman

Book: A Reckless Match

Publisher: St Martin's Paperbacks

Publication Day: 28 September 2021 

Meet the Davies and Montgomery families - two households locked in an ancient feud, destined to be on opposing sides forever. Until now...

CAN LIFELONG HATE . . .

Madeline Montgomery grew up despising––and secretly loving––the roguish Gryffud “Gryff” Davies. Their families have been bitter rivals for hundreds of years, but even if her feelings once crossed the line between love and hate, she’s certain Gryff never felt the same. Now, she’s too busy saving her family from ruin to think about Gryff and the other “devilish” Davies siblings. Since he’s off being scandalous in London, it’s not like she’ll ever see him again...

TURN TO TRUE LOVE?

As the new Earl of Powys, Gryff Davies planned on spending his post-war life enjoying the pleasures of London. But when an illegal duel forces him to retreat to his family’s Welsh castle, he realizes the only exciting thing in the dull countryside will be seeing the fiery Maddie Montgomery. Thoughts of his nemesis sustained Gryff throughout the war; but the girl he loved to tease has grown into a gorgeous, headstrong woman – who loathes him just as much as she ever did. Will secret tunnels, dangerous smugglers, and meddling from their feuding families be enough to make Maddie and Gryff realize that their animosity is really attraction...and maybe even love?

A Reckless Match is the first in a new regency romance series by Kate Bateman about two feuding families, and reunited childhood enemies whose hatred turns to love.

*

My Thoughts

It started with a stolen pig … or was it a woman? Whatever the reason, and whoever did the stealing is somewhat immaterial. What is important is that the adversarial relationship between the Montgomery and Davies families continues. Except it all gets a tad complicated when, after several years of not seeing one another, Gryff Davies and Maddie Montgomery find themselves working together to foil a group of criminals working nearby. This attraction between them makes things oh so convenient/inconvenient . . . the choice really does depend on the day.

Gryff and Maddie are a couple who are a match in so many ways; the sparks fly off the page as they battle wits, deeds and the ever-growing attraction between them. Even with the general inequity between men and women in Regency times, I felt that Gryff and Maddie came together as equals. Beyond the physical attraction, they genuinely liked each other. There was respect, and they had confidence in each other’s abilities.

Kudos to Bateman for also infusing a sense of fun in the feuding family trope. The trickery and games of one-upmanship seems as natural to all the players as is breathing, but it stops well short of malevolence. In fact, I often laughed at the escapades Gryff and Maddie got up to during their childhood, all in the name of holding onto a grudge.

RECKLESS MATCH is a delightfully fun and deliciously naughty read. I am looking forward to the next book in the Ruthless Rivals series.

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher.

*
About the Author

Kate Bateman, (also writing as K. C. Bateman), is the #1 bestselling author of Regency, Victorian, and Renaissance historical romance. Her Renaissance romp, The Devil To Pay, is a Romance Writer’s of America 2019 RITA® Finalist and her Regency-set A Counterfeit Heart (Secrets & Spies series) won the 2018 Book Buyer’s Best contest for Best Historical Romance.

Kate wrote her first historical romance in response to a $1 bet with her husband who rashly claimed she’d ‘never finish the thing.’ She gleefully proved him wrong. Her books feature her favourite intelligent heroines, (badasses in bodices!) wickedly inappropriate banter, and heroes you want to both strangle and kiss.

When not traveling to exotic locations ‘for research’, Kate leads a not-so-secret double life as a fine art appraiser and on-screen antiques expert for several TV shows in the UK, each of which has up to 2.5 million viewers. Before writing romance, Kate was director and valuer at her own UK Auction House, Batemans in Stamford, Lincolnshire. She currently splits her time between Illinois and her native England and writes despite three inexhaustible children and that husband… who still owes her that dollar.

https://www.kcbateman.com/

Book Review: DEATH OF A BLOGGER by Dawn Brookes

   

DEATH OF A BLOGGER

by

Dawn Brookes

Author: Dawn Brookes

Book: Death of a Blogger

Series: Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mysteries

Audiobook Publication Day: 10 June 2021 

***

When a gossip blogger joins a tour party along with victims of her malicious words, there can only be one outcome!

A river cruise from Amsterdam turns deadly.

When Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe embarks on her first river cruise with companions Rachel Prince and Sarah Bradshaw, she's not expecting murder for company! It's bad enough knowing there might be a murderer among their travelling party, but then Lady Marjorie finds herself saddled with a most unwelcome guest. Edna Parkinton, Marjorie's estranged cousin-in-law is loud, brash, and tells it as it is. Marjorie can't wait to be shot of her.

With Rachel and Sarah intent on enjoying a holiday for once, Marjorie decides to investigate a guest's suspicious death herself. Will she find the killer before the killer finds her? Laugh-out-loud fun and mayhem, this prequel provides an appetising taster for the series to follow. Edna Parkinton is a welcome addition to Dawn Brookes' intriguing characters.

***

My Thoughts

It’s a most unusual start to a river cruise when one of the passengers, a gossip blogger with a nasty reputation accidentally falls down a staircase . . . or was she pushed? Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe, octogenarian and amateur sleuth, certainly thinks it’s worth investigating. Not only does the husband seems to be living it up immediately after his wife’s death, but several of the cruise guests have previously fallen foul of the nasty blogger’s words. What’s a shove down the stairs matter if it means a malicious soul is removed from this earth?

I have a fondness for spirited older characters, whatever the fiction genre. And Marjorie proves entertaining, especially when joined by Edna Parkinton, her cousin-by-marriage and opposite in so many ways. These two clash splendidly and often provide laughs in the story.  

Pearl Hewitt’s narration was pleasant to listen to.

DEATH OF A BLOGGER by Dawn Brookes serves as an introduction to the upcoming Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe cosy mystery series. It’s an entertaining yet undemanding listen. Perfect for when you want to listen to an audiobook while pottering around the house. 

 

Audio review copy courtesy of The Book Club (on Facebook)

About the Author

Dawn Brookes is an international bestselling author whose books have hit the number one spot in the USA, UK and Canada. Dawn is also founder of a local literature festival in Oakwood, Derby.

Born in Nottingham and raised in Leicester, Dawn moved south when she was twenty-two, living in London and Berkshire before returning to the Midlands where she now lives with her rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

When not writing about her nursing years, cooking up murder plots or writing for children, Dawn spends time reading, listening to music, gardening and walking. She also takes time out with close friends and cruises regularly. She has just completed her MA in Creative Writing and is looking forward to more leisure time once lockdown has ended.

 

https://www.dawnbrookespublishing.com/

Blog Tour & Book Review: THE TRAPPED WIFE by Samantha Hayes

  

Blog Tour

for

THE TRAPPED WIFE

by

Samantha Hayes

Author: Samantha Hayes

Book: The Trapped Wife

Publication Day: 08 September 2021 

The rain hammers the glass outside. My husband has stoked the wood burner with a fresh supply of logs, and I’ve just put a joint of beef in the oven. It’s the most clichéd Sunday afternoon ever, and it’s the most heavenly one, too. Little do I know that days later, the ash in the fire will be all that remains of us…

My perfect life…

I thought I had it all – a dream job as a doctor in small town, a stunning home and a family I adore – but that illusion shattered the moment my husband Jeremy left on a work trip and vanished without a trace. Now my son and I are all alone in the world.

My missing husband…

My best friend thinks Jeremy had an accident up in the mountains, that I’ll never see him again and need to move on. I know he loves us too much to ever abandon us, but my head is still spinning with the texts I found on his phone before he left. Did I ever really know the man I married?

The night I can’t remember…

Everything changed the night of the medical conference weeks before Jeremy disappeared. I wrack my brains for answers, but my memory goes blank after my first drink. Ever since, I’ve felt like I’m being followed and can’t explain why panic thunders in my chest every time I see my newest patient. If he’s not local to the village, then why does he seem so familiar? And so dangerous?

As I piece together the shards of what really happened that fateful evening, only one thing can possibly be true: everyone is lying, even me…

Purchase

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3DAPBTu
Apple: https://apple.co/3xm8O7j
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3xmP97l
Google: https://bit.ly/2TvXN50

***

My Thoughts

THE TRAPPED WIFE by Samantha Hayes provides plenty of twists, turns, curves and bends. My e-book is awash with colour with all the snippets I highlighted while reading, as I tried to unravel the story and guess whodunit.

Dr. Jennifer Miller, a general practitioner and mum to sixteen year old Kieran, is still reeling from the death of her husband six weeks earlier. Her life as she knew it is over but it’s time for her and Kieran to re-enter the world, and to discover what a new life for them might look like. On her first day back at work, Jen meets Scott Shaw, a charismatic man who both excites and frightens Jen. Scott soon inveigles his way into Jen’s life by threatening to expose some of her secrets; secrets that a responsible, upstanding GP wants to remain hidden. And if that isn’t enough, as Jen sorts through her husband’s belongings, she realises he had his own disturbing secrets.

Admittedly, I did struggle with the earlier part of the book. One of my biggest struggles was trying to understand Jen. Even under the weight of her grief, I felt some of her actions were decidedly odd and unrealistic. My advice now, having finished it, is to stick with the book. You will be rewarded. Hayes does a terrific job in giving us a more than satisfactory conclusion by bringing together the numerous plot strands she planted at the beginning. Several of my deductions proved true, but there were others that had me exclaiming ‘Wait! What?’ And I love when a book manages to surprise me like this.

This is my first Samantha Hayes book, but I am sure it won’t be my last.     

 

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and Bookouture

About the Author

Samantha Hayes grew up in a creative family where her love of writing began as a child. Samantha has written eight thrillers in total, including the bestselling Until You’re Mine. The Independent said “fantastically written and very tense” while Good Housekeeping said “Her believable psychological thrillers are completely gripping.” Samantha’s books are published in 22 languages at the last count.

When not writing, Samantha loves to cook, go to the gym, see friends and drink nice wine. She is also studying for a degree in psychotherapy. She has three grown-up children and lives in Warwickshire.

https://www.samanthahayes.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaHayesAuthor/
https://www.instagram.com/samanthahayes.author/
https://twitter.com/samhayes

Check out the Blog Tour