#Vivienne Lorret

[triviareads]

can you recommend for me a good historical romance with a heroine who is in STEM?

I read one good earl deserves a lover on your recommendation and I really liked Pippa. do you have other books with heroines like her?

Sure! Here they are:

In Want of a Viscount by Lorraine Heath (pub date 2/20/24): The heroine is a businesswoman and inventor who invented the typewriter (or a better version of it) and is very interested in engineering. The hero clocks this and even takes her out on dates to see Big Ben (no, not a euphemism but Stuff does happen up there) and to a club so she can disassemble a roulette wheel and I thought he was very hot for that.

Convergence of Desire by Felicity Niven: The heroine is so focused on proving Fermat's Theorem that she agrees to a marriage of convenience to a local rake so she can focus on math while he's allowed to fuck anyone he likes (he predictably can't get it up for anyone but her shortly after their marriage).

My Kind of Earl by Vivienne Lorret: The heroine accidentally incites a riot in a brothel and escapes by using one of her experiments, a beetroot bomb that makes everyone pink. She's generally an inquisitive, experimental sort from what I remember.

Knockout by Sarah MacLean: Another gal with a penchant for explosives, Imogen tinkers with explosives in her brother's basement, but don't worry it's for a good cause, namely her vigilante group, the Hell's Belles. Her expertise is also called upon to investigate a series of bombings.

When a Scot Ties a Knot by Tessa Dare: Maddie does animal illustrations for scientific books for naturalists and dreams of f illustrating multi-issue encyclopedias. A subplot in this books does involve lobsters fucking so Maddie can illustrate them accurately.

The Detective Duke by Scarlett Scott: I'm pretty sure the heroine in this one invented the first electric frying pan.

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare: The heroine goes around fixing clocks in aristocrats' houses before she accidentally becomes a governess for the slutty hero's new wards, and her one true passion is astronomy and looking for comets.

[overflowingshelf]

November 2024 Reading Recap

Wow, I feel like November was over in the blink of an eye, and now we’re racing toward the end of the year!  November wasn’t the best reading month for me, but I decided to book a last-minute solo trip to Munich, Germany, over Thanksgiving, so a lot of my free time was devoted to planning that. And I have zero regrets as I had such a great trip and hit up all the Christmas markets! I did get…

[aspoonfuloffiction]

Reading Vivienne Lorret’s Misadventures in Matchmaking after Mating Habits of Scoundrels is a bit like watching Star Wars in release order and it’s the fall of Anakin Skywalker except instead of a magic space murder happy Sith Lord it’s Daniel Prescott who I first met as Meg’s dumb ex boyfriend but apparently before he was just a sweet guy that was jilted and heartbroken

And now I have to sit and decide how I feel about this because I really liked Daniel?! Only to find out he’s that Daniel?!?!? 😭

[ill-say-it-slowly-romance]

“There are musts, wants and needs in every man’s life. Such as, I must honor my duty as the Duke of Longhurst to king, country and family. And I want to live a good life, to have sons and daughters, and to live long enough to see the fruits of my labor blossom and ripen. But then, there is need.” He took her hand. “At the core of my being, there is only one answer for this—I need Verity. Because I love Verity.”

[mermaidsirennikita]

hiya, do you have any recs that mostly takes place during a countryside house party?? like what i did for a duke and the viscount who loved me and etc. No real plot, just a couple of dumdums stuck together in a house, falling in love in ~literal~ days lmao

Hmmm

Joanna Shupe's Fifth Avenue Rebels kicks off with a beachside house party in Newport. One of my favorite series of all time—the latter two books take place largely back in New York, but most of The Heiress Hunt (the first book) and a lot of The Lady Gets Lucky (the second) take place at the house party. You have some overlapping timelines stuff, and of course it all leads up to the final book, The Duke Gets Even, when you learn that there was muuuuuch more to that house party than what was originally thought...

Again, beach instead of countryside, but it's very much the same thing But With Water Shenanigans. Also tennis. Nobody has a job. People hide. It's great.

A lot of Grace Callaway's The Viscount Always Knocks Twice takes place at a house party. This being a Grace Callaway book, there's a mUUUUURDER (which the intrepid heroine decides to solve, while the stern, flustered hero is all "PLEASE. SIT DOWN. SIX FEET AWAY." to no avail) and it's super fun. Like, please know that Grace Callaway murders are not like normal murders. I don't always love a mystery, but she does it in a way that props up the romance, versus the other way around.

Also, this is another one where in a later book (my favorite Grace book) Regarding the Duke, you find out that OTHER STUFF happened at the house party. Namely, Adam Garrity attempting to scheme his way into seducing a woman for power and money, only to play himself as it turns out Oh No, He Loves His Wife.

Infamous by Minerva Spencer largely takes place at a Christmas-adjacent (but Christmas isn't really the point, though people do sled and get snowed in together) country house party. There are actually two romances, and the heroes are twins. The nerdy twin (who is very slutty now, but in a super efficient way) runs into the woman who bullied him back when she was the hottest girl on the block. But NOW she's an old lady's paid companion and has fallen on (very) hard times. And naturally.... it's on. The titled twin has been married to a woman he had to marry due to a compromise situation (which was the aforementioned hot girl's fault) for the past decade. They have a totally quiet, dutiful marriage where they only do it for procreative purposes. Two kids in, they get along fine but it's very distant. Except. He's SUPER in love with her now. And he wants the marriage to be real!!!!

A Rake's Rules for Seduction by Caroline Linden is a house party book. In this case, the hero is best friends with the heroine's brother, and he was about to court her six years ago after realizing his feelings, but then she got engaged to another man. Now she's a depressed widow, and he is a NOTORIOUS rake who everyone talks shit about. But.... the feelings are still there. And things go down. Mostly him.

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction by Eva Leigh is one where they're at a house party except it's on an ISLAND, and this is important because the hero and heroine absolutely don't want to see each other, what with him leaving her at the altar a while ago. But their friends are like "TOO BAD. LOVE IS HAPPENING." and basically they trap 'em on the island. And they're like D:. It's great.

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare... I can't remember if this is a house party book, exactly? But I feel like it is. Everyone is at a house. It's in the country. The heroine and the hero are stuck in a closet together at some point (this also happens in The Viscount Always Knocks Twice, it's a historical thing). The hero is friends with the heroine's brother, and the brother basically sends him in to distract her, as she's trying to seduce their OTHER friend, who's supposed to marry another woman. Real feelings ensue.

Never Seduce a Duke by Vivienne Lorret has, I believe, a house party situation. The hero and heroine met each other in this very insane situation wherein he thought she was stealing his priceless Arthurian cookbook. Then he chased her across Europe for a minute, and she didn't realize this was like... a thing. THEN. Things Happened. THEN. They got separated and she was unable to reach him. Which was a bit of a problem, as she had a Thing Which He Really Should Have Been Notified Of after the Other Thing Happened. A Special Souvenir, you could say. An Unexpected Eurotrip Consequence. Anyway, he shows up at her brother's country estate for like, a gathering situation (I forget exactly why, but you get me) and everyone is together, and this girl has to cover up the fact that she absolutely had this man's baby, wasn't able to tell him, and now has to deal with his feelings.

It's really funny AND really hot, and I would recommend heartily. I believe Lorret's The Wrong Marquess, which is in the same series but a couple books earlier, also kicks to a house party at some point in the book. I also love this one. The hero initially hates the heroine who he sees as a bad influence on his little sister (who's actually.... the one who gets pregnant on a Eurotrip.... so idk points may have been made there in retrospect) but he later becomes oBSESSED. She's waiting for another man to propose, but during this whole countryside excursion, he makes his argument for banging known.

Oh. OBVIOUSLY, the first two Wallflowers books take place in large part at Westcliff's big country estate and various house party shenanigans occur. In Secrets of a Summer Night, Operation Trap a Man takes place there, with Annabelle accidentally trapping Simon. And in It Happened One Autumn, Westcliff is all "all of my friends and also that annoying girl Lillian who I want to impregnate should visit my house!!!! Even my broke slutty friend Sebastian!!!!"

[notbecauseofvictories]

Books of 2022

In 2022, I read fewer books overall (143, down from last year’s ridiculous 303) but I did manage to cut down on my romance novel reading---a respectable 52% instead of last year’s 78%. The consequence of this is that I did actually read more good books this year, books I could talk about with other people and inspired feelings and thoughts that rattled around my head afterwards. Plus some actual nonfiction!

Going through all of them, what I liked about them, why they made such an impression, would take a while---plus I’ve already talked about most of these in my books tag. So I’m just going to invite everyone to ask about anything that catches their eye!

BEST FICTION (IN THE ORDER I READ THEM) ** indicates a particular favorite

The House of Small Shadows, Adam Nevill

**The Cipher, Kathe Koja

Eartheater, Dolores Reyes

Hadriana in All My Dreams, René Depestre

**Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica 

You've Lost a Lot of Blood, Eric LaRocca

The Beautiful Ones, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle

War for the Oaks, Emma Bull

Girl A, Abigail Dean

This Might Hurt, Stephanie Wrobel

**Burning Girls and Other Stories, Veronica Schanoes

Eva Ibbotson’s A Countess Below Stairs, A Company of Swans, & Magic Flutes

Deerskin, Robin McKinley

BEST NONFICTION

An Iliad, Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare

**Capitalist Realism, Mark Fisher

Urban Folklore in the Paperwork Empire, Alan Dundes & Carl R. Pagter

**Fun Home, Alison Bechdel

**Men, Women & Chainsaws, Carol J. Clover

[romance novels and most disliked books under the cut---I did give these a bit of an explanation, because being asked about romance novels makes me itchy. We shall never speak of these again.]

ROMANCE NOVEL READING

Vivienne Lorret (How to Forget a Duke, Ten Kisses to Scandal, The Rogue to Ruin, When a Marquess Loves a Woman, How to Steal a Scoundrel's Hear) Admittedly, nothing particularly unique about these---however, they are more traditional romance and a pretty decent attempt at actual regency-style manners, so I enjoyed myself reading them.

Olivia Atwater (Half a Soul, Ten Thousand Stitches, Longshadow) I actually sincerely loved these! Supernatural historical romance from a solid writer. Plus, the series has angrier, more class-conscious sensibilities than all the romance novels I've read---and is less hypocritical about it too, since the characters are largely not nobility, and there's no marrying dukes involved.

Alice Coldwater (His Forsaken Bride, An Ill-Made Match, The Unlovely Bride, Wed By Proxy) So admittedly, I don’t recommend reading all four of these together---it becomes increasingly clear that Coldwater can only write one and a half heroines, and both of them are excessively weepy. Nevertheless, I took a total leap of faith on this (historical fantasy romance isn't typically my genre) and was rewarded by a lot of delightful pining, some court politics, and the 1.5 heroines she can write are fun to follow around.

C.L. Wilson (The Winter King, The Sea King) If last year was about reading every romance novel about dukes I could find, this year was about finding all the fantasy romance novels. (Shout out to Stephanie Garber who also helped feed this inexplicable urge!) Anyway, this series was fun, similar to the above in that it’s fake fantasy politics and some romance, and that’s a combination that works for me.

MOST DISLIKED BOOKS

Redshirts, John Scalzi I have never despised a book quite like this one! I still can't tell if it's the smirkingly obvious Star Trek meta of it all, or the hat on a hat that is the last chapter/coda 1. I did like coda 3, but only because it felt like the only quietly, emotionally sincere part of the whole stupid book.

High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robinson Novellas must be tricky to write---I’ve read a fistful or so, and find them to be wildly variable in quality and effectiveness. That said....the author’s attempt to resolve entrenched political problems via dance made me roll my eyes so hard I strained a muscle. It ruined what might have otherwise been a fun time, since I did like the narrator's charmingly disaffected perspective

Always Be My Duchess, Amalie Howard Emotional honesty and vulnerability has no place in romance novels. I read historical romance specifically so people won’t talk about their feelings, and the fact that romancelandia keeps shoehorning therapy-speak into my regency may in fact be my villain origin story. However, even worse than that is this book’s use of “totally” and "patriarchy" in a completely ahistorical way, betraying a nauseating disinterest in the time period being written about. Worse than even that: the total fucking coward's move it is to write a Pretty Woman fic but then have the heroine be a virgin and not a sex worker at all. God knows we can't be interesting.

Death, Laura Thelassa This one is my own fault. I did think "hey isn't that the romance series with the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse? I read one of those a long time ago; I should give it another shot." (I promise, I regretted it instantly.) However, it is another excellent entry in the long list of cowardly books that refuse to actually lean into enemies to lovers as a trope. Also, if you have undying protagonists? they should kill each other more.

[phantasticphizza]

thank you kat and meg for tagging me 🖤 @kat-aa @sunshinephil

Last song I listened to: Angel Of The Morning by Juice Newton from Promising Young Woman

Currently reading: You will get through this night by dani snot on fire and Lord Holt Takes A Bride by Vivienne Lorret

Last watched: movie: Priscilla, TV: I'm rewatching Grey's Anatomy

Currently Obsessed: Dip n Pip, obviously

Tagging (no pressure!): @phan-tasia, @japhan2024, @an-internet-introvert

[extasiswings]

The historical romance release lineup for January/February…yes.

[New Kate Bateman, Joanna Shupe, Lorraine Heath, Vivienne Lorret, Jessie Clever, Megan Frampton…🙌🙌🙌]

[bucolicbook]

The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount (The Liar’s Club, #2) by Vivienne Lorret

US pub date - 9/24/24

After reading (and loving ❤️) the first book in this series, It Had to Be a Duke, I knew the second I saw this title and cover that I wanted to read it. After reading the synopsis, I was sold. After being fortunate enough to read an early copy of this, I started it immediately and was pulled right in.

Reading thoughts - 

*This second book in the series is making me wish for a book about Roxana and Con’s story 😍

*The slow burn is manageable but nice 

*I was enjoying my reading time with this - the longing that peeked through during the falling (on chap 22 (62%) currently and there’ve been some kisses and innuendo laden remarks - feelings are really simmering 

*the Hartley family ❤️

I officially enjoyed this - The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount was a very fun read of a series I recommend - great escapist romance. 

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the DRC 

[darlenefblog]

The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount

The Liar's Club #2

Vivienne Lorret

Publisher: ‎ Avon (September 24, 2024)

Publication date: ‎ September 24, 2024

Print length: ‎ 396 pages

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, Harper Collins Publishers, and Vivienne Lorret for providing this advance readers copy of the book. I'm providing my honest review.

When you stupefy men just by entering a room you can see your life unfolding before your eyes. A trinket on some man's arm, a trophy wife, a life of boredom. Being the daughter of an acting family has shown Honoria that a life on her own terms is possible. She just has to finance it. Scandalous things must be perpetrated, a fortune and steady source of income obtained. Gambling and adventure become the way and happens to put her in the crosshairs of Oscar Flint who becomes her nemesis and partner in crime. Oscar is a master gambler with an edge that allows him to win big. He has to keep moving to keep his head attached. Always running a con. Pretending to be Honoria's long betrothed Viscount gets him in with the long-lost Viscounts family and forces Honoria to help him play the game. The Viscounts family is a strange grouping of widows.

Lots of adventure, action, and romance make an enjoyable read. Likeable characters kept me invested till the happy ending. I do have one con, the ending was a bit of a hard twist to follow and came out of nowhere, I hadn't guessed it.

[triviareads]

I started the month strong by cracking, buying the last two books, and finishing Sierra Simone's Thornchapel series (here are my final thoughts), and then mostly spent the rest of the month on ARCs (see below) and a pretty diverse array of romances. All in all a great month!

Bed Me, Baron by Felicity Niven (releases September 7th)

I haven't had this much fun reading a historical romance in a long time. It's one of those romances that start off relatively light and frivolous (and there's an immediate "teach me" moment), but by the end, it really packs an emotional punch. For my full analysis on friends-to-lovers and the daddy of it all, here's my review.

Full Moon Over Freedom by Angelina M. Lopez (releases September 5th)

I'm not one to read romances with magic in them, but Angelina wrote wrote this deeply cultural and spiritual take on magic and superstition and intertwined it with the romance masterfully. Here's my full review.

The Duke Gets Desperate by Diana Quincy (releases September 26th)

This book felt particularly special to me because the heroine is a first-generation immigrant and retains both her family's Palestinian culture and that classic can-do American spirit. The cultural rep as well as the feminist legal themes are compelling reasons for why we should be reading and writing more historical romances set later in the Victorian era. Here's my review.

It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret (releases November 28th)

Adorable, hysterical, full review coming in a couple months, but here are my reactions.

What Was Meant To Be by Heather Guerre

Small-town romance done right. This one really hit on an emotional level; Rain has been under her father's thumb her entire adult life and was never given the resources and support she needed as someone with autism. As a result, she finds herself coerced into marry Wes, a guy in rural Wisconsin she's never met, so Wes can get the property he needs for his resort (basically a dowry :/). What follows is heartbreaking and uplifting at once: Rain begins to exercise her independence and she and Wes slowly come around to an tentative understanding. This is a book where fucking leads to feelings and there are some great sex scenes in this one. Rain is the dominant one in their sexual relationship, and Wes is 100% here for it... a Good Boy, if you will. It's a soft domme vibe but effective and very natural in my opinion, and I would love to read more of this dynamic in romance novels.

Knockout by Sarah MacLean

I knocked this one out in a day (here are my final thoughts). Plotwise my favorite in the Hell's Belles series (a series of mysterious targeted explosions? come on), and the romance between Imogen and Tommy was a perfectly done Grumpy/Sunshine. Also, if you weren't imagining Detective Inspector William 'The Duke' Wellington while reading Tommy Peck, you were reading it wrong.

Rules of Engagement by Christina Dodd

If there's one thing Christina Dodd excels at, it's writing a bitchy hero in that early 2000s kind of way. Kerrich has a little St. Vincent in him; his biggest issue (apart from his trauma from accidentally mooning the King of England after he fell off a trellis because he saw a girl naked) is that alllll his servants find him so hot they can't help but proposition him, so he decides to find the ugliest governess, procure a child, and become "respectable" thanks to a blackmail threat. Also, he does unironically wear a monocle and I'm here for it. Pamela is the kind of pragmatic heroine I love: she's willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, but when push comes to shove, she feels very little shame in seeking pleasure.

The Prize by Julie Garwood

If you find yourself missing the Lillian-Westcliff dynamic but perhaps want to see it play out in a medieval setting, then this is your book! Royce is a hypercompetent Norman lord, and Nicholaa (yes there's an extra 'a' there) is, as the blurb perfectly puts it, a "resourceful, rebellious and utterly naive" Saxon lady. In the grand theme of Westcliff, there was definitely some conversation about how it was "unlike" Royce to do some not-entirely-consensual stuff during the deflowering scene, to which I say no, it really was... in character. Man was on the brink.

But if that's your jam, then you'll probably enjoy this one.

Redhawk Reunion series by Robin Covington

I found a new favorite Harlequin Desire series this month! The Redhawk Reunion series is about three siblings of Native American descent who were removed from their parents' home by CPS without cause and separated (I strongly urge everyone to look into Indian Adoption Project, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and Haaland v. Brackeen to learn more because it used to be upsettingly common due to government policy). Adam, the hero of the first book, hires PI Tess to find his long-lost siblings and they fall into a FWB situation with a side of secret REVENGE. The second book involves Adam's sister Sarina, who accidentally marries his business partner Justin in Vegas, and they too end up in a FWB situation except, well, as a married (for convenience) couple. As far as Harlequin Desires go, both are top-notch and deliver exactly what you want from this imprint.

Also, I believe the next book is supposed to be about Adam and Sarina's brother Roan and the President of the United States' daughter, whose portrait he's supposed to be painting and I'm VERY excited for that.

[overflowingshelf]

Trope Tuesday: 4 Historical Romances with Amnesia

Oops, I woke up and have no idea who I am, but this handsome/gorgeous stranger is intriguing! Amnesia is a classic romance trope, especially in historical romance. If you’re looking for some great amnesia historical romance recommendations, look no further than these four books: Continue reading Trope Tuesday: 4 Historical Romances with Amnesia

[aspoonfuloffiction]

I read 5 Vivienne Lorret books in like 4 days and just downloaded 6 more…I may have developed a problem

[ill-say-it-slowly-romance]

"Honestly, she didn’t know why she let him affect her so. He’d made no secret of hating her from the very beginning.

It was just that, somewhere along the way, she had stopped hating him quite so much. And all this not hating him was making her heart ache."

[the-book-queen]

Hide your wallets, it's that time again! Your daily thread of romance deals is ready, FREE to $1.99!

FREE ✦ Another Charge by Alexa Padgett

1st POV. He's a hockey coach who is raising his niece. She's the new spirited nanny.

Contemporary Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/4dcbRVu

$0.99 ✦ Thrill Me to Death by Roxanne St. Claire

Second chance. He's a former DEA agent, she's a widowed heiress. He's hired as a bodyguard after her late husband's suspicious death.

Romantic Suspense (MF) | https://amzn.to/3Wdzqaw

$0.99 ✦ Lakeside Cottage by Susan Wiggs

He was a combat medic who became a national hero and is now trying to hide out from the press. She's the single mom next door.

Contemporary Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/4aFtStH

$1.99 ✦ It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret

Spinster + Duke + fake engagement. Their families are sworn enemies.

Historical Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/4aJNGfs

$1.99 ✦ The Love Potion by Sandra Hill

Shy chemist discovers a formula guaranteed to attract the opposite sex, but the wrong man, a bad boy lawyer, accidentally takes the first trial of the potion.

Contemporary Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/3w3UXaZ

Putting these lists together takes time. If you appreciate this content, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi. http://ko-fi.com/danielletbq

[danielleurbansblog]

Review: How to Steal a Scoundrel's Heart

Synopsis: In USA Today bestselling author Vivienne Lorret’s latest steamy romance, a determined debutante discovers that making a deal with a notorious rake might just give her more than she ever bargained for… Ruined debutante Prudence Thorogood lost everything when she was ousted from polite society, including her inheritance. Now she’ll do anything to take back what’s hers… even if she has…