#emily ek murdoch

[readtilyoudie]

“Marry me,” she whispered.

Relief, joy, and desire rocketed through David’s body as he gazed down at the woman who would be his wife.

“I thought you would never ask,” he breathed.

- Advent with an Archduke by Emily EK Murdoch

[pollyssecretlibrary]

“A Governess of Many Languages”, by Emily E.K. Murdoch

I read this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review RELEASE DATE - SEPTEMBER 30th

This is the third book of the “Governess Bureau” series. It’s set in Regency era in an estate outside Brighton (around 1813). There’s a very long house party, a couple at odds, a meddling godfather, a terrible set of twins and a mouse of a governess who, perhaps, shouldn’t be there.

I gave this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I requested this book on Netgalley because of the trope. I have a weakness for governesses, you can blame the Brontës for that I guess. This book had a lot of potential, it truly had it, but it didn’t meet my expectations. It was a book I enjoyed reading because it is not bad, but it was just OK for me, let me explain.

The premise was unlike any I’ve heard of before. The book is about Stuart, lord Galcrest, whose best friends, le duc and the duchess d’Allaire, struggle with the education and the behavior of their twins, William and Jane. The children are absolute terrors and with reason, their home is a mess. So Stuart goes to the Governess Bureau and hires a little mouse of a governess, Elizabeth Stuart, who speaks many languages fluidly (which is a plot device because one of the children refuses to speak in English)

Elizabeth was my favorite character. She is a “gift” to the d’Allaire. She is shy and doesn’t really speak her mind because she was educated not to and because being a governess it is not her place to speak out about herself. But she has spirit and she will show later in the book.

Now, the d’Allaires don’t take well that Stuart went and hired someone in their place. Mary is acting strange lately, firing woman after woman in the household. So she feels instant hate for Elizabeth, being a woman and not hired by herself. The husband, Philippe, doesn’t know what to do with his family anymore so he has given up trying. Still Stuarts meddling is not taken well on his part.

Now the real problem for me was Stuart himself. I didn’t like him. Sometimes heroes grow in me, but Stuart didn’t. It’s not that he was always awful, he was not violent in the slightest and he was very clear about consent and the word ‘no’ which was great, but he was an asshole and sometimes borderline humiliating towards Elizabeth. Stuart has a very high degree of the ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ for most of the book, he never grows out of his immaturity. He’s spoiled, selfish (he did what he did so he could play with his friends) and he doesn’t learn a thing when Elizabeth tells him about his privileges and her lack of ‘plan B’. He even takes matters into hand without consulting her at the end…

So the romance didn’t work for me just because Stuart has the mentality of a child of 10, I didn’t understand the foundations of their love, especially on her part since she is such a great character.

The conflict between the d’Allaires took most of the book and it fell a little long. But I could go with that no problem. The house party felt as boring as the characters felt in the end… thankfully we had Elizabeth and the twins to save the book. Their shenanigans were a lot of fun so, in the end, I didn’t dislike the book, it was fine.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Don’t Judge a Duke by His Cover by Emily E.K. Murdoch

Dukes in Danger 1

 Hoydenish young woman of the ton meets Duke masquerading as a boxer while working undercover to catch a treasonous murderer…should be interesting and filled with intrigue but…sadly…not.

 Julia Dryden pushes her brother to take her to a boxing ring in a questionable area of town, distracts one of the boxers to the point he is knocked out, and she feels compelled to check to see if she is okay. She tells her brother to leave her and go home…and he does. I kept reading to see what would happen, see if she would have a chaperone, see if she did anything ladylike at all and…again…suspended belief to keep skimming the story.

 The romance between Lawrence the boxing duke undercover and Julia the independent naïve hoyden who ran free through London was SLOW. The mystery and search for the traitor was more a matter of waiting for the man to appear, and the class issues were overcome by some with greater ease than probable.

 This is a romance with a happy ending that did not draw me in, make me feel invested, or care about the outcome…and that made me sad.

 I think that some will enjoy this story, but it did not work for me.

 Thank you to NetGalley and Dragonblade for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 2-3 Stars

     BLURB

 Lawrence, Duke of Penshaw, is undercover and getting punched on a daily basis. Devastated by the murder of his brother by a traitor to the Crown, Lawrence agrees to leave his identity as Duke behind to go undercover at an illegal boxing ring in London. He’s waiting for the killer to return from France, and absolutely must not get distracted. Especially by a beauty from Society who absolutely should not be here. Julia Dryden knows her mother would be scandalized by her presence at the boxing matches—it flies in the face of their agreement for her to choose a husband by Easter. After all, she isn’t getting any younger. But her eye is caught by a tall, handsome man who gives everything in the ring and seems to have no fear of danger. From two different worlds—but not the ones she thinks—Julia has no idea the man she’s falling in love with is not a common rogue. And Lawrence has to keep it that way for if he loses focus, just for a moment, he may lose everything. The chance to catch a killer, put a traitor behind bars, revenge his brother…and Julia’s heart.

[bookstagramofmine]

Book Review: Don't Judge a Duke by His Cover by Emily EK Murdoch

Book Review: Don't Judge a Duke by His Cover by Emily EK Murdoch #BookReview #Dragonbladepublishing @NetGalley #RegencyRomance #Romance #EmilyEKMurdoch

Thank you NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing for the chance to read Don’t Judge a Duke by His Cover by Emily EK Murdoch! This isn’t the first book by the author that I’ve read. The last one was The Impoverished Dowry, which was also courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher! The Impoverished Dowry by Emily E. K. Murdoch She’s a prolific writer with close to 90 titles under her belt! Don’t…

[the-book-queen]

Hide your wallets, it’s that time again! #TBQsBookDeals

Your Wednesday thread of #romancedeals is ready, FREE to $2.99. Happy shopping! 📚❤

  FREE ✦ Twelve Drummers Drumming by Emily EK Murdoch

She campaigns to help veterans, he's an injured soldier who just returned home.

Historical Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/3P47dgK 

$0.99 ✦ Ancient Retribution by Katie Reus

She's a long lost dragon princess and has been hunting down criminals. He's a warrior (also dragon shifter).

Paranormal Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/3P5aooa 

$0.99 ✦ One Scandalous Season (Anthology)

4 novellas, including:

~ Snowed in together

~ Advice columnist + her publisher

~ Childhood friends

Historical Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/3VAx4z3 

$0.99 ✦ North of Love by EM Petrova

He's part of an elite search and rescue group in Alaska. She's on the run from a stalker, ends up at his cabin door looking for help.

Romantic Suspense (MF) | https://amzn.to/3Fs3uFt 

$2.99 ✦ Heiress in Red Silk by Madeline Hunter

Struggling shopkeeper is suddenly a bit of an heiress and he's her new business partner. Marriage of convenience.

Historical Romance (MF) | https://amzn.to/3Fuhm36 

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

[sherryewing]

First Kiss Friday with Emily EK Murdoch

First Kiss Friday with Emily EK Murdoch

Welcome to another First Kiss Friday. Today it’s my pleasure to welcome bestselling author Emily Murdoch who has her first kiss scene from her latest novella, Whirlwind with a Wolfe. Happy reading and enjoy, my lovelies!

Excerpt:

He had never wanted a woman more in his life, but not just for the pleasures of the flesh, but the meeting of two minds. Two rebels without parents to protect them, two…

[epchapman89]

Have A Splash: Sprudge Just Launched A New Wine Website

Sprudge readers—hello.

Whether it’s your first time here, or you’ve been following us since 2009, it remains our distinct privilege to publish this website for you each day. Over the last 8 years we’ve published thousands of stories here at Sprudge, and in the meantime your support and readership has allowed us to develop a publishing perspective we think is unique in the world of food and beverage writing. Reverent, mirthful, in-depth, globe-spanning, at times a little weird, culture-forward, writer-powered, unafraid and always real, Sprudge brings you new stories each day from the exciting and progressive world of what’s known as “Third Wave coffee.” It’s reporting we hope serves to document what’s happening in coffee right now, and why it matters, while amplifying and championing the work of thought-provoking writers around the world.

Today we’re excited to announce a new chapter in the story of Sprudge, the independent digital publication you are reading at this very moment, right now. Long-whispered-of and in development since at least 2015, today we are turning on the switch to a new part of the Sprudge Media Network, and beginning the work of publishing daily content from the world of natural wine.

Yes, “natural wine”—like Third Wave coffee, it’s hard to define, and that is perhaps some of its magic. We’re talking about living wines from organic or Biodynamic vineyards, made with few or no chemicals in the winemaking process. Wines of thirst and elegance alike, from party punch to thought-provoking expressions of terroir. The real electric stuff, “celestial juice” in the words of Jay McInerney, wines that are piquant and moving and unforgettable. Wines that live up to the words of the great American natural wine importer pioneer Kermit Lynch, who calls it “a gift of nature, eked out of our earth, ripened by our sun, fashioned by man.”

Wines that confront stereotypes. Wines that are not fussy, or lame, or stuffy, or expensively inaccessible. Wines that make you rethink everything you knew about wine before.

Over the course of our travels producing Sprudge over the last decade, the founders and owners of Sprudge have fallen deeply in love with the culture and people who make the natural wine world what it is today, from London to Tokyo, New York to Oakland, Paris to Paso Robles. In it we see a world full of stories to tell, and through Sprudge’s reporting style we hope to offer a lens with which to do just that: to humbly, imperfectly, in our own way, show you what we think is cool and noteworthy about wine right now across the planet as we learn from experts and tell their stories.

That new website is called Sprudge Wine. You can set your browser to wine.sprudge.com and start reading it today, launching with 10 stories from New York City, the Willamette Valley, Mareuil-sur-Cher, Cincinnati, the Otway Ranges, a lovely little wine bar in London’s Charring Cross, and the list goes on. We’re on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well, all under the @SprudgeWine handle. Sprudge co-founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen are directing every aspect of this project, with help from our worldwide editing and contributor corps, plus many new faces along the way from the vinous world’s robust freelance writing culture. We have not taken secret money from some ghastly corporate wine Borg, or been bought out by Rupert Murdoch’s thirsty ghost. This is a wholly owned new project from the makers of Sprudge—childhood friends and publishing partners Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen, based in Portland, Oregon—and we’re so excited to share it with you.

The site is launching with writing from contributors around the world, chief among them the freelance wine writing heroes Rachel Signer (Terre Magazine) and Emily Dilling (Paris Paysanne), who join us from Paris and the Loire Valley, respectively, as well as Eileen P. Kenny, a longtime Sprudge contributor and minimal intervention winemaker based in Melbourne. Sprudge co-founder Jordan Michelman will be a regular contributor and editor to the site, following alongside his ongoing wine writing as a columnist for the Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon, and Zachary Carlsen will contribute content with an eye towards design and visual representation in the world of wine. Sprudge Media Network’s Features Editors Gail O’Hara (Kinfolk, SPIN, founder at Chickfactor) and Michael Light (Lucky Peach, McSweeney’s), and Associate Editor Liz Clayton (author of Where To Drink Coffee and Nice Coffee Time, contributor at Village Voice and Epicurious) are involved as well, and many more contributors—some familiar already to Sprudge readers—are set to join in on the project as it grows in the coming months.

If you already love natural wine—and there are a great many Sprudge readers for whom this is true—we want to be your new favorite bookmark, and we look forward to seeing you at upcoming events, parties, and podcast tapings. But if you’re shaking your head, or have never heard the term natural wine before, then in the coming weeks we’ll ask for just a few moments of your time (and perhaps a few eyeball emojis). You’ll see wine content appear from time to time on the Sprudge main page and across our social media channels, and new readers from the wine world will be discovering and engaging along with our coffee content as the project grows. The two worlds have heaps in common: they are among the purest beverage movements in the world right now; they both comprise a global network of passionate producers, importers, tasters and tastemakers; and they are both deeply delicious, capable in their own way of improving the brief time we’ve each been given on this earth, and maybe even changing the world along the way.

Third Wave coffee and natural wine: let’s drink them both together. We get to do this work because of your support and readership, and for this we’re truly in your debt. We hope you’ll join us as a reader for this new venture, and welcome our new wine readers into the coffee world with open arms. Thank you, and happy drinking.

Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen Co-Founders, Sprudge Media Network June 6th, 2017

The post Have A Splash: Sprudge Just Launched A New Wine Website appeared first on Sprudge.

seen 1st on http://sprudge.com

[readtilyoudie]

Louisa sighed but giggled at the sight of his face. “Oh, David, you never attend to me! Sometimes I do not know why you bothered to come and see me, if you have no wish to listen!”

Because, David had wished to say, you are beautiful. You are clever. You make my heart do a horrible pitter patter that makes it hard to swallow and though I hate the sensation, Louisa, I wish to feel it every day. 

Every day for the rest of my life.

-  Advent with an Archduke by Emily EK Murdoch

[readtilyoudie]

“Well, the thing is, mother,” said Louisa with a bright smile, “it turns out that after all my complaints, I am actually far more interested in spending Advent with an Archduke than I thought.”

David stifled a grin. So, she had been complaining about his arrival, had she? There was the spiky, passionate Louisa he knew.

“But he...he is nothing!”

Louisa’s polite smile disappeared. “He is not nothing. He is David.”

And it was at that moment, if it was possible, that he fell in love with her all over again.

- Advent with an Archduke by Emily EK Murdoch