Hello, and welcome back! I'm nearly through the July releases, which is good, because my August stack is rather large at the moment, and I'm very much looking forward to digging into several of those. If you're a reader who chooses stories based on the back cover blurbs, you may have been disappointed lately, because I have read a lot of books recently where the summaries on the back cover had very little to do with the story between the covers, which is frustrating, and I will say that includes some of the books I've reviewed already this month and will also include some of today's....

Lost in Temptation (Signet Eclipse) by Lauren Royal is first. Alexandra Chase is almost ready to do as her brother wishes and marry the peer he's chosen. Until Tristan Nesbitt comes back into her life. If you're looking for an uncomplicated, light read, this might be just what you were looking for. While I could understand and believe Tristan's reasoning for his behavior throughout the story, Alexandra's is less believable. I just didn't love either of them enough to call this one a keeper, so I'm borrowing only three of Cupid's five arrows for it.

The Love Affair of an English Lord (Ballantine) by Jillian Hunter is next, this time with Chloe Boscastle spending a miserable time banished in the countryside after a stolen kiss in London. Her boring existence gets far more interesting when she finds a wounded (and supposedly dead) man in her intimate apparel. Also a rather uncomplicated (I hesitate to say 'fluffy' though the word does spring immediately to mind) story, without too much real conflict to keep this couple apart. The interfering family is a tad annoying, though, in the later stages. This one also earns only three arrows.

My Devilish Scotsman (Pocket) by Jen Holling is next, with the second in her MacDonell Brides trilogy. This time, it's unmagically-gifted Gillian's turn, and wedding the man her sister was to wed is to be her lot, though Nicholas Lyon, Earl of Kincreag and her groom-to-be, doesn't seem all that pleased by this fact. So Gillian decides to make him love her, by any means she can, starting with a love potion. This one delves a bit more into the history of the MacDonell women and what happened to their mother. Luckily, Nicholas turns out not to be the dour miserable man he appears to be at first glance, and I liked this one better than the first in the trilogy. I look forward to reading the third. I'm giving this one four arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!