Pixels and Paint by Kristi Ann Hunter - Trinket Sisters, book 1

For Emma Trinket, life is a delicate balancing act between loving her family and pursuing interests they don’t understand. When the opportunity arises to finally impress them with her job as a computer programmer, she jumps at it even if it means immersing herself in a world she’s despised since childhood. Unfortunately the one man who could crush her prospects is also the best person to help her navigate the lessons she needs to be a success. Artistic expression is both Carter Anderson’s safe space and his livelihood, but his fading inspiration has him worried about his place in life. His encounters with Emma spark a passion to create that he hasn’t felt in years and he isn’t ready to let go of his new muse even if she’s threatening the sanctity of his art world with her digital technologies. As each tries to gain an advantage from the other, Emma and Carter discover they actually might be more compatible than they thought. Will that be enough to unify their opposing missions or will the real differences between pixels and paint tear them apart?

I'm really not a fan of books written in the present tense; it takes way too long to get into the story enough for it to quit bothering me. But once at that point, I did really enjoy this book, just as I expected from a Kristi Ann Hunter novel. It is full of the author's delightful sense of humor (I laughed so hard during one scene in particular), engaging characters, and encouraging message.

Weirdly, in spite of being an artist myself, I connected way more with Emma than Carter. When it comes to the vast majority of art, be it classical or modern, master or amateur, there's a very narrow window that I truly enjoy. And I make art because I enjoy the process and the results, not because of overwhelming emotion or the desire to make a statement. It mystifies me when people find deep emotion or hidden meaning in something that was only meant to be precisely what I depicted. But maybe that proves some of Carter's points in the story; art is certainly a very personal experience.

I really look forward to reading Amy's story--this book hinted at layers of depth and hurt behind that fashionable façade, and I can't wait to see where she ends up!

Trinket Sisters
1. Pixels and Paint
2. (2024)

A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M White - The Imposters, book 1

Left with an estate on the brink of bankruptcy, Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother open a private investigation firm marketed to the elite . . . to spy on the elite. Dubbed The Imposters, Ltd., their anonymous group soon becomes the go-to for the crème of society when they want answers delivered surreptitiously. But the many secrets Marigold learns about her peers pale in comparison to her shock when she and her brother are hired to investigate her best friend's father as a potential traitor. Pneumonia lands Sir Merritt Livingstone behind a desk in the War Office Intelligence Division just as they're creating a new secret intelligence branch. He suspects a man of leaking information to Germany as tensions mount between the two countries, but needs someone to help him prove it, so he turns to The Imposters, Ltd. No one knows who they are, but their results are beyond compare. Lady Marigold is determined to discover the truth for her friend's sake, and she's more determined still to keep her heart from getting involved with this enigmatic new client . . . who can't possibly be as noble as he seems.

It was enjoyable, just not my favorite by the author. The plot was twisty and intriguing, with an unexpected but thrilling conclusion. The main characters were all very likeable--Merritt, Marigold, Yates, Xavier. Maybe too likeable, in the case of Marigold? All together, Marigold's special skills strain credulity a bit--I mean, she's a trapeze artist, an actress, able to memorize whatever she reads or hears (at least short term), and is on the cutting edge of fashion, not to mention being titled gentry. Oh, and she cooks, sews, and has circus animals essentially as pets. All are explained in her backstory, but . . . it's a lot, without much balance in flaws. I guess I found her likeable, but too special and perfect to be relatable. However, I did really like that Merritt starts out sick and physically disadvantaged--a novel introduction for a hero!

I am terribly curious what went down between Gemma and Graham to cause such animosity; at least they're the leads in book 2! Side note about Graham Wharton: same name (essentially) as Graham, Lord Wharton, hero of Kristi Ann Hunter's novel A Defense of Honor. What are the chances?

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

The Imposters
1. A Beautiful Disguise
2. A Noble Scheme

A Return to Hawthorne House by Kristi Ann Hunter

Two new novellas related to the Hawthornes, under one cover!

Always a Lady: Despite the fact that her daughter is not cooperating, Caroline, Duchess of Riverton is determined to ensure every one of her children marries someone they love as much as she loved their late father. William, the widowered Earl of Blackstone, is delighted to have his days of escorting daughters approaching an end. The last thing he expects is to find himself drawn to a woman who is just starting such a journey. Are they each too set in their ways to grasp this chance to have a second love?

The Lady’s Maid: When Lydia Smith began her career as a parlor maid, she knew love and marriage wasn’t likely in her future. Dreaming about the boy next door as she dusted seemed harmless until he started working as the new valet under the same roof. When Finch needs her help with a special project, will it give them a chance to defy expectations and find love or ruin their happiness forever?

Even though all these stories technically take place before the first full novel of the Hawthorne House series, they are definitely richer for having read the series first. It's a lovely collection for anyone who wants another taste of the wonderful characters we met in the books.

Always a Lady: It's always been clear that Caroline knows all the rules to being a lady, but this story makes it plain she also knows when and how to break them. I enjoyed seeing more of her spunk, and I think Miranda takes after her more than either of them would admit. 

The Lady’s Maid: I always had the feeling in An Uncommon Courtship that there was more to the story of Trent's staff than was included in the book--I mean, a married valet and housemaid is pretty unusual! So this story just makes so much sense and fills in gaps in Lord Trent's unusual household. 

Christy Award winner for best novella/short form in 2023!

Related novels:

Hawthorne House
0.5 "A Lady of Esteem" - a free novella (also included in A Return to Hawthorne House)
1. A Noble Masquerade
2. An Elegant Facade
3. An Uncommon Courtship
4. An Inconvenient Beauty

"Wedding at Sea" by Melissa Tagg - Muir Harbor, book 3

Lilian doesn’t remember anything about her life before the day Maggie Muir found her on her front porch—a toddler, abandoned. She has a beautiful life at Muir Farm, but she also has a secret . . . one that raises just as many questions about her future as it does her unknown past. And, of course, it would be private investigator Wilder Monroe, her brother’s best friend and the bane of her existence, who sniffs out her secret before anyone else. Wilder has spent the past three years trying to close the one case on the mystery of Maggie Muir’s long-lost granddaughter. But the decades-long search has become more tangled than ever. Not only are the Muirs the closest thing to family he has left, but if he can solve this mystery, maybe he'll keep himself from drowning in the one he can’t . . . the truth about his father’s death. In the midst of it all, Maggie asks a favor of both Lilian and Wilder: put aside their bickering and work together to plan her summer wedding. It’s a big ask, made all the more difficult when danger comes calling. But if the two enemies can stand each other long enough to pull off the event of the year, they just might solve a mystery in the process.

This is a rare Melissa Tagg novel in that it lacks the adorable meet cute (not surprising, given that the leads have known each other forever). But it makes up for it in a couple different fun and delightfully awkward scenes. It's full of Tagg's trademark humor, as well as her classic heart-wrenching scenes in which the leads wrestle with their demons and overcome. As with the previous two novels in the series, it even has a spark of suspense and danger.

This is one of the best--albeit, more unusual--enemies to lovers stories I've read. It's not a case of physical attraction instigating the shift from enemies to lovers, as in so many romances; instead, vulnerability leads to connection, which leads to a deeper relationship, which finally culminates in attraction. The physical aspects are way down the list. 

This was the perfect ending to the Muir Harbor series (though I'd gladly take a full novel about Marianna). They are all equally wonderful, but best together! 5 stars!

Muir Harbor
1. Autumn by the Sea
2. A Seaside Wonder
3. Wedding at Sea 

His Delightful Lady Delia by Grace Hitchcock - American Royalty, book 3

Delia Vittoria's mother has lost her voice at last. After five years of being her diva mother's understudy, it is time for Delia to assume her place as the lead soprano on stage behind the Academy of Music's faded velvet curtain. And she is all that stands between the Academy and its greatest threat--the nouveaux riche's lavish new Metropolitan Opera House. Kit Quincy never misses opening night, but when his sister begs him to help get her husband out of an Italian opera star's arms, Kit confronts the wrong Lady Vittoria. When he happens upon the stunning young diva again at Mrs. Astor's dinner the following night, he attempts to make amends and is instead pulled into a plot to win the great opera war. To draw attention to Delia Vittoria as the new soprano star, Kit is convinced to act as both Delia's patron and the enigmatic phantom who once haunted the Academy years ago. But when a second phantom appears, more than Delia's rising career is threatened.

If you enjoy The Phantom of the Opera (or spoofs there-on), this is a fun homage. No weird, stalk-ery relationships between our heroine and hero--just a sweet romance between a singer who knows who she is (at a core identity level, at least) and a gentleman who, even as he is falling in love, wants to see her succeed. Kit is one of the rejected suitors from book one in the series, and it's lovely to see him find love at last. Of the three books, this is definitely my favorite--it's lighthearted and fun, with an unusual opera setting and theme on finding one's identity in Christ.

American Royalty
1. My Dear Miss Dupree
2. Her Darling Mr. Day
3. His Delightful Lady Delia

Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer - Texas Ever After, book 1

Beauty has been nothing but a curse to Penelope Snow. When she becomes a personal maid for a famous actress whose troupe is leaving Chicago to tour the West, she hides her figure beneath shapeless dresses and keeps her head down. But she still manages to attract the wrong attention, leaving her prospects in tatters--and her jealous mistress plotting her demise. After his brother lost his life over a woman, Texas ranger Titus Kingsley has learned to expect the worst from women and is rarely disappointed. So when a young woman found in suspicious circumstances takes up residence with the seven old drovers living at his grandfather's ranch, Titus is determined to keep a close eye on her. With a promotion hanging in the balance, Titus is assigned to investigate a robbery case tied to Penelope's acting troupe. The evidence points to her guilt, but Titus's heart divines a different truth--one that might just get Penelope killed.

I've read a lot of fairy tale retellings, including various versions of Snow White, which, admittedly, is not my favorite fairy tale. For all that there is no magic or supernatural element in this version, it is definitely the best retelling of Snow White that I've read. It pays homage to the Disney version more so than the Grimm original, but the Snow White elements mesh surprisingly well with the very western thievery case, spearheaded by our kingly (as it were) Texas Ranger hero (who gets a lot more character development than the prince in either Disney or Grimm's stories. As does their relationship and romance).

It's plain cute, and highly satisfying--a faith-filled, fairy tale, western, historical romance.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Texas Ever After
1. Fairest of Heart
2. If the Boot Fits
3. Cloaked in Beauty

Memory Lane by Becky Wade - Sons of Scandal, book 1

After surviving a trauma several years back, Remy Reed relocated to a cottage on one of Maine’s most remote islands. She’s arranged her life just the way she wants it. It’s quiet and solitary—until the day she spots something bobbing in the ocean. Her binoculars reveal the “something” to be a man struggling to keep his head above water. She races out to save him and brings him into her home. He’s injured, which doesn’t detract from his handsomeness nor make him any easier to bear. He acts like a duke who’s misplaced his dukedom . . . expensive tastes, lazy charm, bossy ideas. Remy would love nothing more than to return him to his people, but he has no recollection of his life prior to the moment she rescued him. Though she’s not interested in relationships other than the safe ones she’s already established, she begins to realize that he’s coming to depend on her. Who is he? What happened that landed him in the Atlantic Ocean? And why is she drawn to him more and more as time goes by? There’s no way to discover those answers except to walk beside him down memory lane.

This was a great story, full of Wade's trademark humor and romance, along with a dash of intrigue. Based on first impressions, I assumed that our hero is a rich playboy. He is rich (no doubt about it). He's competitive and intense, but he's not a playboy. He surprised me by how very respectful he is of boundaries, and he's much more self-controlled than his first, in-pain and confused impression would lend us to believe. 

No one in this book leads a perfect life; everyone's is messy. Remy is dealing with trauma by hiding out and losing herself in art. Our hero deals with trauma of a different sort. Even side characters like Wendall and Fiona are dealing with the consequences of their life choices, not all of which were great. 

Losing one's memories is an awful thing (I have a cousin who was in a bad car accident 19 years ago and is still missing two months of her life). But I loved how in this book it becomes almost a gift--a gift of time for our mystery man to view his life from an outside perspective instead of drowning in the midst of his circumstances. God takes something awful and uses it for good, not just for his own healing, but for Remy's healing, and even Wendell's, Remy's elderly friend. It doesn't mean that things aren't really hard sometimes, but God is still there through it all and forever afterward.

"God has a soft spot for those of us who feel like we've been thrown onto the garage sale pile . . . He's never closer than when we're beaten up, unloved, betrayed." 

I greatly look forward to Jude's story!

Sons of Scandal
1. Memory Lane
2. Rocky Road