ARC REVIEW The Scoundrel and the Debutante by Julia London

Book Three of Julia London's Cabot Sister's series. It really can be read as a stand alone the first two books play an important part but nothing that isn't explained simply, and it you have read the previous books it's not redundant. Prudence has to be my favorite sister she was the level headed one and is suffering because her older sister's actions. Roan is an American lost in England trying to track down his wayward sister and take her back to America so she can make an advantageous marriage for the family business. I love these two, I always enjoy it when you throw an American in the fray.

Honor and Grace have had their scandal and both ended up happy and married with kids running around, Prudence however is on the shelf with all her friends married she has convinced herself she will always be the spinster sister all because of her sisters. Prudence is not happy about it all she wanted was to get married but because of her sisters she was deemed unsuitable as time passes she just gets more and more depressed and her sisters are just getting annoying. As a reprieve from her sisters even she though she doesn't really want to goes to visit her best friend who just had a baby. On the way she meets an American man, a very handsome man, and throwing caution to the wind she decides she wants a bit of adventure and she joins him on his search for his sister, but it might be more than she wanted. Julia London is very good when it comes to misadventures they are always amusing and follows Murphy's Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Prudence assuming the identity of Roen's cousin helps track down his sister but when they come across someone who knows the Cabot family the fun is over. Prudence and Roen race back to London and her sisters to try and fix the mess she got herself into.

Roen feels an instant attraction to Prudence but he has an obligation back home, like his sister it is a marriage that will strengthen business connections between the families. On return to London and the discovery of Roen's sister he asks Prudence to marry him, but Prudence is being blackmailed into marriage with the "gentleman" who discovered her secret; he is threatening to ruin Mercy the youngest Cabot sister entry into the prestigious art school she just got accepted into. The story is fun and an easy read; emotional but not in the angsty way. I think out of the three books so far in this series this one is my favorite.            

REVIEW The Devil takes a Bride by Julia London

Book 2 in the Cabot Sisters series by Julia London was not what I expected. I still think the original title of The Fall of Lady Grace, is more apt but The Devil Takes a Bride is more eye catching. I was not expecting this book to go in the direction it went especially with Jeffrey. Grace I expected to be a tad bit selfish from the previous book. With Jeffrey his "madness" his OCD, his need to have everything in 8s was fine it makes him unique; it stands him out against the rest of the romance heroes I love that about him and I the fact that I imagined Stuart Reardon as him didn't hurt. But... the, for the lack of a better term, BDSM tendencies was over the top I think it could have been just left as controlling and in charge and it would have been fine. It almost felt like it was written in just to appease the trend of BDSM books. That being said it was very well written and I liked how it wasn't the main focus although I could have lived without it (if I wanted to read BDSM I would I just didn't expect to read it in one of my favorite Historical Romance authors). I didn't like Grace in The Trouble with Honor she came off as self centered despite her need to help the family. In this one you can see how quickly she changes, some of her actions are still self centered but you can tell she thinks it's for a good reason and that she wants to make things work and she's trying.

The beginning of this book runs parallel with the end of the last book, to catch you up in case you missed it The two eldest Cabot sisters are the belles of the ball both already have been in society for a couple of years with no urge to marry. That is until their step father passes away, their mother's dementia starts to get worse and their step brother's fiancee wants to sent the girls away. With their two younger siblings not yet out their mother's sickness will hurt their chances to find a good match. So Honor hatches her own scheme and Grace under takes her own. Honor's backfires but ends happily, to bad news of this didn't get to Grace before her own machinates backfired as well. Grace had an admire she thought cared enough about her he wouldn't mind being trapped into marriage with her. His brother however was the one who fell into the trap.

Jeffrey, The Earl of Merryton, lead on organized life he was content with. Everything in it's place and always in multiples of eight Jeffrey was looking for a wife who wouldn't disturb that instead he fell into Grace Cabots trap. Mad at first he soon just accepted it, he lusted after her like no one else before but she was too innocent to show his "depraved" sexual desires. Grace on the other hand sees Jeffrey for what he is and soon comes to understand his need and once she has a taste of his needs she wants more she just has to convince Jeffrey that she can handle it. Jeffrey's nature partially came by his father who was very strict in nature and often cruel in turn Jeffrey is determined to uphold his father's strict family rules and keep the name away from scandal. Grace knows this and is scared to tell him of her mother's "madness" for fear he will cast her out for it. They both must overcome their fears of the other knowing the truth about the other in order to be happily ever after.

Overall, yes I did like the book, it wasn't the greatest but it wasn't horrible either. It was good just not what I was expecting.