The Last Chance Christmas Ball by Putney, Beverley, Bourne, Rice, Cornick, Elliott, Gracie and King

The Last Chance Christmas Ball by Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Joanna Bourne, Patricia Rice, Nicola Cornick, Cara Elliott, Anne Gracie and Susan King.
A second chance at love...
Childhood friends become lovers...
Childhood sweethearts reunited...
Spouses reconnecting...
Strangers finding love...
You can't go wrong with this anthology!  It covers almost all the different types of storylines that you might want to find in a romance story. I loved how even though the stories were all written by different authors, they were all connected to the Christmas Ball that was taking place. You even have the characters crossing over into each others stories. I really hope that they decided to do it again as I throughly enjoyed the whole book!

You can get this novella at the following retailers:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Thanks go out to Kensington Books via NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

Passionately Yours by Cara Elliott.

Passionately Yours by Cara Elliott.
This is book 3 in the Hellions of High Street series (Book 1 and Book 2)
Caro Sloane is finding herself at loose ends now that her two sisters have gotten themselves married. She and her mother are staying in Bath where she meets her new friend Isobel. Isobel and Caro are returning from an outing when they are attacked by ruffians. They are soon rescued by none other than Alec McClellan, the Scot that she exchanged verbal barbs with while at a house party.
Alec McClellan can't believe his half-sister's new friend is none other than Caro Sloane.  He has closed off his heart after being heartbroken by his wife and she seems to be the only one who can put a dent in it.  He is trying to find out who is a traitor to his cause and doesn't have time for the feelings that she provokes.
Will Alec and Caro find proof they need to capture the traitor and will Alec finally open his heart to love again?
I was eagerly awaiting Caro's story and hoping that Alec would be her HEA. Cara Elliot did not disappoint me!  I loved the bickering between the two of them. It has me laughing out loud at their antics.  I also loved the added mystery in the story and the fact that Caro was not afraid to get involved and take some of the sleuthing into her own hands (much to Alec's dismay!) The conclusion to this series was very satisfying! I would recommend all three books to any lover of historical romance.

You can get this book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thanks go to Forever Publishing via NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

Sinfully Yours by Cara Elliot

Sinfully Yours by Cara Elliot.
This is book 2 in the Hellions of High Street series. You can find my review of book 1 HERE.
Anna Sloane's mother is surprised to hear that she wants to go to the house party in Scotland. But what Anna's mother doesn't know is that she wants to spend the time working on her book and not looking for a titled husband. She has also got to get away from "Devil" Davenport as he is proving to be too distracting. The ton thinks that the Marquess of Davenport, Devlin, is a penniless rake that doesn't have a kind bone in his body. What they don't know, is that he does missions for the government and his reputation helps him learn things he wouldn't have otherwise.  His next mission is at a house party in Scotland. The government thinks that someone is going to kill a visiting prince. Anna and Devlin are both surprised to see the other when they arrive at the house party. One reason both of them accepted the invitation was to get away from the other. They each feel as if they spend too much time preoccupied with the other. With each on a mission of their own, much speculation ensues.  Anna sees Devlin sneaking around where he shouldn't be right when some jewelry goes missing. Is he so desperate for money that he must revert to stealing to make ends meet? Devlin catches Anna sneaking away from where the guns are kept and the prince's gun explodes the next day.  Is Anna in on the plot to kill the prince? Will they learn the truth about each other and find a way to marital bliss? I knew from reading Scandalously Yours (SY), that Anna and Devlin would be the next h/h (at least I hoped they would be). The chemistry they had with each other practically jumped off the page.  We briefly saw a side of Devlin in that story that made me believe that he was not exactly whom we were lead to believe he was (great foreshadowing!)  Sinfully Yours definitely lived up to all that I hoped it would be.
One of the things I loved about SY, was the relationship between the sisters.  In Sinfully Yours, Elliot continues with this theme and does it masterfully.  We only see two of the sisters during this story, but I hope that changes with the story of the youngest sister (I've got my fingers crossed about who she will be paired off with).
We have a pretty good understanding of who Anna is from SY, but she truly comes into her own with this novel. She has always been the perfect sister, the one her mother told the others to emulate.  We finally see the person she has been hiding behind this facade. The adventuress person who will do what she has to do get what she wants.
Devlin on the other hand was just the opposite.  Known as a rake and not good for much else, we see the side of him that he has kept hidden. It takes the love of Anna to get him to share this side of himself. With every bit of new information, I fell a little bit more in love with him!
I just can't say enough about this series. I LOVE IT!! This series is the only one that I've read from the author, but from these two books I will definitely be picking up her other series. 

You can get this book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thanks go out to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

Scandalously Yours by Cara Elliot

Scandalously Yours by Cara Elliot.
This is book one in the Hellions of High Street series.
Olivia Sloane is know as the Hellion of High Street. She doesn't have a problem speaking her mind, which doesn't sit well with the rest of the ton. She would much rather sit at home and write her column than go to the nightly balls.
John, the Earl of Wrexham, has recently resigned his commission and can't stand spending time with all the frivolous people in the ton. He would rather spend his time working on his speech for the House of Lords. He also doesn't need to attend the ton parties to find a wife (which his sister would like him to do) because he has found a perfectly acceptable woman back at home to court. Unfortunately, John's son, Prescott (Scottie) doesn't seem to get along with her.
John and Olivia meet one night in a secluded room, where each of them has gone to get away from the mindless drivel of the ton. They are both instantly intrigued by the other and soon learn that they have much in common.
Both having an interest in the returning soldiers, they decide to work together on John's speech. Unfortunately, the other lords want John on their side of the argument and threaten retribution if he doesn't side with them. One of them kidnaps John's son, which leads John and Olivia on a different kind of adventure.  
I absolutely LOVED this story!  Olivia is not your conventional regency woman. She is not afraid to show that she has more than dress patterns in her head.  I loved that she was not afraid to be herself even when it didn't make her very popular with the rest of the ton. The interactions between Olivia and John were priceless!  The banter between them was very entertaining. It was also nice to see a couple become friends because of mutual interests instead of just acting upon a physical attraction (although there was still plenty of that!)
One of the best parts of the novel was the interactions between the Sloane sisters. None of them are your typical "miss". There were so many times that I was laughing out loud while reading this, which is always a plus in my book!
John's son, Scottie, was also a hoot!  Between writing an ad for the paper looking for a mother and then his attempt to go to London, you never knew what he would be up to next.
The next book in the series is about Anna Sloane and "Devil" Davenport. We meet both of them in this novel and I can't wait to read their story.  You could definitely see the attraction between the two of them and hints of secrets that Davenport is hiding. It is scheduled to be published in Feb. 2014.

You can find this book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Publishing) for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.