Tag: A Reckless Match

September 2021 Wrap Up

On By JolieIn book reviewLeave a comment

I can’t believe that it is already October. The month of September flew by!! I didn’t do that great reading and I am behind on almost every reading challenge that I’ve entered. I figure that I’ll try again in 2022 to do the challenges and read more.

Books I got from NetGalley:

The First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings by Stephen Mitchell

Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester

The Brightest Star in Paris by Diana Biller

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers

The Battle for Verdana by Brett Salter

Hexes & Hairballs by Emigh Cannaday

Lies in Bone by Natalie Symons

The Judas Robe by Larry Rodness

Our Trespasses: A Paranormal Thriller by Michael Cordell

Books Read and Reviewed

Windy City Ruins by Brett Salter (review here)

Her Renegade Cowboy by Lora Leigh (review here)

A Reckless Match by Kate Bateman (review here)

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (review here)

Kissing Under the Mistletoe by Suzanne Enoch, Amelia Grey, and Anna Bennett

The Last Guest by Tess Little

So that’s it. Let me know if you have read any of the books above and I hope you all have a spooktacular October!!

A Reckless Match (Ruthless Rivals: Book 1) by Kate Bateman

On By JolieIn ARC, book review, NetGalley, St. Martin's Paperbacks, St. Martin's Press2 Comments
Book Cover

Publisher: St. Martins Press, St. Martins Paperbacks

Date of Publication: September 28th 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Series: Ruthless Rivals

A Reckless Match—Book 1

A Daring Pursuit—Book 2 (expected publication date May 24 2022)

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible |Barnes & Noble | WorldCat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

The first in a new regency romance series about two feuding families and reunited childhood enemies whose hatred turns to love.

Maddie Montgomery’s family is in debt, and her hope rests on the rival Davies clan missing their yearly “pledge of goodwill,” ceding the land that separates their estates. With Maddie’s teenage nemesis, Gryffud “Gryff” Davies, Earl of Powys, away, hope is in reach.

But then, Gryff shows up and is stunned that the tomboy he once teased is now a woman. When Gryff and Maddie discover contraband on their land, they realize it can benefit both families. But they’ve also uncovered a dangerous plot, and they need to work together to get out alive. Soon, their hatred for each other starts to feel more like attraction.

Kate Bateman brings crackling banter, steamy romance, and a dash of adventure into the first book in the Ruthless Rivals series.

First Line:

“Nobody’s coming.”

Madeline Montgomery squinted down the empty road as a thin bubble of hope – a foreign sensation of late- rose in her breast.

a reckless match by kate bateman

I know that I have mentioned this here before, but I adore historical romance. I love reading about how people back in Regency England (or any era, to be honest) courted. Among my favorite authors is Kate Bateman. So, when I saw that she had a new book out, I knew I had to read it!!

A Reckless Match is the first book in the Ruthless Rival series. This book has set the tone for the rest of the series. I can’t wait to see how the other books are going to be.

I was thrilled to see that the author had decided to set A Reckless Match on the border of England and Wales. If you think of Regency romances, you automatically think of England and Scotland. Ireland and Wales are not even mentioned unless there is a villain involved. So, yes, I was happy to see that the book was set on the border and that Gryffud (aka Gryff) was Welsh.

An enjoyable family feud (I never thought I said those two words together) explains why Maddie and Gryff’s family hates each other. Because of a King’s decree (200 years previously), a representative from each family must meet at the shared property boundary and shake hands. The meeting happens every five years. If someone doesn’t show up, the land automatically forfeits to the other family. This time around, it was up to Maddie and Gryff to present and shake hands.

The romance angle of A Reckless Match was wonderfully written. It was your typical enemies to lovers trope. What I loved it that Gryff was the first one to realize that he loved Maddie and that it was fairly early in the book. What made the romance angle for me was Maddie realizing that she loved Gryff and all the shenanigans it caused.

Maddie wasn’t your typical English miss. She wasn’t interested in getting married. Instead, she was interested in archeology and getting a specific tome for her father. I liked her and connected with her.

I loved Gryff. Not only was he tall, dark, and handsome, but he was in touch with his feelings. He knew how he felt about Maddie reasonably early in the book. Because of the feud, he decided to keep a lid on his feelings and help her find out about the smugglers. He also wanted to help her, moneywise (her father went into debt with gambling) but couldn’t figure out how to do it without her getting prickly. It was fantastic to read the book from his perspective and to see Maddie through his eyes.

There is a suspense angle of the book that was very well written. The smugglers, who are mentioned throughout the first half of the book, were brought into the storyline in a shocking way towards the end of the book. Everything that happened after the explosion made one of the most sexually charged sex scenes I have ever read (no light, just sensations, was perfect).

The end of A Reckless Match was your typical HEA. In the next book, I haven’t figured out if Hattie and Rhys or Tristan and Carys will be. But I can’t wait to read it regardless of who will be next.

I would recommend A Reckless Match for anyone over the age of 21. There are explicit sex scenes, mild language, and moderate violence.

WWW Wednesday: September 1st 2021

On By JolieIn book review7 Comments
IMG_1384-0

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Personal

Nothing too much going on since Monday’s IMWAYR post. My life isn’t that exciting and usually I don’t have a ton going on.

Miss R had an orthodontist appointment yesterday. She got her bands and wires changed. The orthodontist is debating on taking her braces off soon. Her front teeth are together and she now has space for her “fangs” (as she calls them) to come down. We’ll discuss that in November. She is going back in October to get her lip bumper out and a palate spreader put in behind her bottom teeth. Her mouth is a mess….lol.

Mr. Z’s bus issues were resolved the next day. But, now the bus comes at 6:30 (20 mins earlier than what is posted). So, he’s out of the house by 6:25. He is liking school too. They have him in advanced advanced math (I put two advanced in because there is advanced math, NC Math 1, and NC Math 2 being taught there). He’s not struggling with it but it is making him slow down and think about what he’s doing. Honestly, I looked at his homework the other day and noped right out of there. Too hard for me.

Miss B is doing well in school also. She is loving ROTC and Public Safety (this is a required class for the Criminal Justice branch of the school). Civics and Spanish 1 (another required class) is kinda meh for her. She likes the teachers but doesn’t like the class (if that makes sense).

Blog

Nothing too much going on with my blog this week. I am going to continue updating posts as soon as I figure out how to switch my dashboard back to the old way. If anyone knows how, please comment below!!

Reading

I am going to cautiously say that I am out of my reading slump. Stress cautiously. Since Monday, I have finished 3 books and written 2 reviews.

Watching/Playing

I am now on Season 2 of Cold Case. BK and I have also been watching movies in small increments (our adjusted bedtime is 9pm since I am up at 515am). Last night, we watched the middle of the new Suicide Squad movie. I shut it off after Viola Davis’s character got knocked out by coworkers and will finish the rest of the movie tonight.

I am still playing ESO. I am in a new area of the game I haven’t been before and I am enjoying questing there. I have no clue where I am going to go after all the quests for the Ebonhold Pact is over. We’ll see where they send me.

What I Recently Finished Reading:

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If the only way to save her mother is to act like a spy, Mari can act like a spy.

Maybe.

After her mother is abducted, Mari Sandoval breaks into her mother’s research lab in an ill-advised attempt to appease the kidnappers. Fortunately she’s thwarted by two spunky sorority girls who offer her a better way to save her mother—become a spy.

In the fast-paced world of undercover agents—where fabulous new clothes, high-tech gadgets, and flirting for secrets are the norm—Mari’s inexperience could ruin everything.

Will she be able to master the art of espionage in time to rescue her mother from the clutches of a maniac? Or will her undercover mission doom them both to imprisonment?

Spies Never Quit is a cute spy-thriller where the romance is sweet and the suspense is cozy.

What I am currently reading:

Book Cover
It’s just a simple trip to New York. What could possibly happen to our loveable heroes THIS time? Faster-than-sound reptiles? Exploding Minotaurs? Generational secrets coming back to haunt them? Expect the unexpected in this third installment of The Talisman Series, “Windy City Ruins”. The war for Earth is creeping steadily closer, and Rome’s team is in a mad dash to figure out the Talismans before it’s too late. Can they amass enough talent to help them defend the realm? Or will The Tyrant King’s heinous minions sweep them off course and leave Earth ready for the taking? Windy City Ruins is the third installment of the Talisman Series.

What books I think I’ll read next:

Book Cover
He will risk his life…

The oh-so-proper school teacher, Lily Donovan has learned, the hard way, that men are not to be trusted. Period. Until Levi Roberts, the new cowboy working at her cousin’s ranch, tempts her carefully-built resolve and awakens an all-consuming passion she thought lay dormant. But when she discovers his deadly secret, and her own secrets come to light, Lily unwittingly joins the lethal cat and mouse race between Levi and the man he’s been hunting for weeks.

To save her heart…

Former Ranger Levi Roberts has seen his fair share of deadly trouble during his years as a tough-as-nails operative. The ultimate expert in undercover investigations, he’s been tasked to find a man with a dangerous agenda in town. Routine work has been boring…until he runs into Lily, the prickly school teacher who tempts him like no other. Getting under her skin has been deliciously satisfying for his red-hot desire, but when Lily lands in the hands of the very man he’s been investigating, Levi will have to fight with every ounce of his heart and soul to save her—and to heal the heart he broke.
Book Cover
The first in a new regency romance series about two feuding families and reunited childhood enemies whose hatred turns to love.

Maddie Montgomery’s family is in debt, and her hope rests on the rival Davies clan missing their yearly “pledge of goodwill,” ceding the land that separates their estates. With Maddie’s teenage nemesis, Gryffud “Gryff” Davies, Earl of Powys, away, hope is in reach.

But then, Gryff shows up and is stunned that the tomboy he once teased is now a woman. When Gryff and Maddie discover contraband on their land, they realize it can benefit both families. But they’ve also uncovered a dangerous plot, and they need to work together to get out alive. Soon, their hatred for each other starts to feel more like attraction.

Kate Bateman brings crackling banter, steamy romance, and a dash of adventure into the first book in the Ruthless Rivals series.
Book Cover
This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…

You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…
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In GREAT SCOT by Suzanne Enoch, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-thirty and well past marriageable age, though, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head.

In CHRISTMAS AT DEWBERRY HOLLOW by Amelia Grey, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love. Certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner. The last thing Isabelle wants is for Gate to take her heart with him when he goes.

In MY MISTLETOE BEAU by Anna Bennett, Miss Eva Tiding is determined to cheer her widowed father with the perfect Christmas gift. Even if it means breaking into the home of the rakish earl who swindled Papa out of his pocket watch and pretending to date the earl for the Christmas season.
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A glamorous birthday dinner in the Hollywood Hills ends with the famous host dead and every guest under suspicion in this dark, cinematic suspense debut reminiscent of an Agatha Christie page-turner crossed with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.

When actress Elspeth Bell attends the fiftieth birthday party of her ex-husband Richard Bryant, the Hollywood director who launched her career, all she wants is to pass unnoticed through the glamorous crowd in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion. Instead, there are just seven other guests–and Richard’s pet octopus, Persephone, watching over them from her tank as the intimate party grows more surreal (and rowdy) by the hour. Come morning, Richard is dead–and all of the guests are suspects.

In the weeks that follow, each of the guests come under suspicion: the school friend, the studio producer, the actress, the actor, the new partner, the manager, the cinematographer, and even Elspeth herself. What starts out as a locked-room mystery soon reveals itself to be much more complicated, as dark stories from Richard’s past surface, colliding with Elspeth’s memories of their marriage that she vowed never to revisit. Elspeth begins to wonder not just who killed Richard, but why these eight guests were invited, and what sort of man would desire to possess a creature as mysterious and unsettling as Persephone.

The Last Guest is a stylish exploration of power–the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

On By JolieIn book review1 Comment

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-lit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.

Happy Monday (well, as happy as a Monday can be…lol) everyone and I hope you all had a great weekend!!

It was hot out this weekend. Temps were in the mid-90’s with real feel temps of it being in the lower 100’s. And it was (and still is) super humid. So, needless to say, we stayed in for most of the weekend.

The only time we went out was to Miss R’s horseback riding lesson. It was her first lesson in almost a month. The barn had a horse show and then all the trainers (and a couple of the kids) came down with COVID. Everyone came off quarantine the end of the last week. Miss R was thrilled to be riding again and she did very well.

The first week of school was offically great. Any issues we had (which I discussed in my WWW Wednesday post) had been resolved.

I finished 1 1/2 books over the weekend. I am happy with that.

I watched the rest of Season 1 and the first episode of Season 2 of Cold Case. The more I watch it, the more I remember how much I loved this series.

What I am Reading Now:

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Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she’s happy.

But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she’d dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.

I read the first couple of chapters of When Sparks Fly last night. So far, I am loving it!!! The opening sentence had me rolling (grown men participating in hobby horse racing).

What I plan on reading this week:

I knocked two books off this list last week. Big hooray for me!! The order I am reading these books are: Author ARC, Author ARC, NetGalley ARC, NetGalley ARC. I am motivated to read at least the first two books this week but I am hoping to read them all by Sunday.

Book Cover
If the only way to save her mother is to act like a spy, Mari can act like a spy.

Maybe.

After her mother is abducted, Mari Sandoval breaks into her mother’s research lab in an ill-advised attempt to appease the kidnappers. Fortunately she’s thwarted by two spunky sorority girls who offer her a better way to save her mother—become a spy.

In the fast-paced world of undercover agents—where fabulous new clothes, high-tech gadgets, and flirting for secrets are the norm—Mari’s inexperience could ruin everything.

Will she be able to master the art of espionage in time to rescue her mother from the clutches of a maniac? Or will her undercover mission doom them both to imprisonment?

Spies Never Quit is a cute spy-thriller where the romance is sweet and the suspense is cozy.
Book Cover
It’s just a simple trip to New York. What could possibly happen to our loveable heroes THIS time? Faster-than-sound reptiles? Exploding Minotaurs? Generational secrets coming back to haunt them? Expect the unexpected in this third installment of The Talisman Series, “Windy City Ruins”. The war for Earth is creeping steadily closer, and Rome’s team is in a mad dash to figure out the Talismans before it’s too late. Can they amass enough talent to help them defend the realm? Or will The Tyrant King’s heinous minions sweep them off course and leave Earth ready for the taking? Windy City Ruins is the third installment of the Talisman Series.
Book Cover
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh comes Her Renegade Cowboy, the final book in the Moving Violations trilogy…

He will risk his life…

The oh-so-proper school teacher, Lily Donovan has learned, the hard way, that men are not to be trusted. Period. Until Levi Roberts, the new cowboy working at her cousin’s ranch, tempts her carefully-built resolve and awakens an all-consuming passion she thought lay dormant. But when she discovers his deadly secret, and her own secrets come to light, Lily unwittingly joins the lethal cat and mouse race between Levi and the man he’s been hunting for weeks.

To save her heart…

Former Ranger Levi Roberts has seen his fair share of deadly trouble during his years as a tough-as-nails operative. The ultimate expert in undercover investigations, he’s been tasked to find a man with a dangerous agenda in town. Routine work has been boring…until he runs into Lily, the prickly school teacher who tempts him like no other. Getting under her skin has been deliciously satisfying for his red-hot desire, but when Lily lands in the hands of the very man he’s been investigating, Levi will have to fight with every ounce of his heart and soul to save her—and to heal the heart he broke.
Book Cover
The first in a new regency romance series about two feuding families and reunited childhood enemies whose hatred turns to love.

Maddie Montgomery’s family is in debt, and her hope rests on the rival Davies clan missing their yearly “pledge of goodwill,” ceding the land that separates their estates. With Maddie’s teenage nemesis, Gryffud “Gryff” Davies, Earl of Powys, away, hope is in reach.

But then, Gryff shows up and is stunned that the tomboy he once teased is now a woman. When Gryff and Maddie discover contraband on their land, they realize it can benefit both families. But they’ve also uncovered a dangerous plot, and they need to work together to get out alive. Soon, their hatred for each other starts to feel more like attraction.

Kate Bateman brings crackling banter, steamy romance, and a dash of adventure into the first book in the Ruthless Rivals series.

WWW Wednesday: August 18th 2021

On By JolieIn book reviewLeave a comment
IMG_1384-0

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What I Recently Finished Reading:

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If you play with fire…

One of the most notorious cowboys in Cold River, Jensen Kittredge always has willing women with sweet smiles vying for a place in his bed. So when the prissy high school librarian sidles up to him in the most disreputable bar in town with a scowl on her face, he has no idea what to make of it. Much less the attraction he feels toward the bespectacled creature who wants something from him… but not that.
Yet.

Someone gets burned…

Harriett Barnett doesn’t care for dens of iniquity– or the insolent cowboy she certainly shouldn’t find attractive. But one of her students needs her help, and if she needs to corral the infamous Jensen to save him, she will. Trouble is, the town’s favorite Kittredge brother is a lot more than she bargained for. Harriett’s happy little life is orderly and neat, just how she likes it–until Jensen blows it all apart with his particular brand of addictive passion. Can a modern-day schoolmarm really tame the wildest cowboy in town? Or is Harriet headed for a terrible fall?

What I am currently reading:

Book Cover
From the author of Paris Never Leaves You, a gripping story of a young German Jewish woman who returns to Allied Occupied Berlin from America to face the past and unexpected future

Millie Mosbach and her brother David escaped to the United States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing. Like most of their German-born American colleagues, the siblings suffer from rage at Germany and guilt at their own good fortune. Only Millie’s boss, Major Harry Sutton, seems strangely eager to be fair to the Germans.

Living and working in bombed-out Berlin, a latter day Wild West where the desperate prey on the unsuspecting; spies ply their trade; black markets thrive, and forbidden fraternization is rampant, Millie must come to terms with a past decision made in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic sometimes infuriating Major Sutton who is mysteriously understanding of her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, love, and forgiveness, of others and of self.

What books I think I’ll read next:

Book Cover
Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she’s happy.

But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she’d dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.
Book Cover
If the only way to save her mother is to act like a spy, Mari can act like a spy.

Maybe.

After her mother is abducted, Mari Sandoval breaks into her mother’s research lab in an ill-advised attempt to appease the kidnappers. Fortunately she’s thwarted by two spunky sorority girls who offer her a better way to save her mother—become a spy.

In the fast-paced world of undercover agents—where fabulous new clothes, high-tech gadgets, and flirting for secrets are the norm—Mari’s inexperience could ruin everything.

Will she be able to master the art of espionage in time to rescue her mother from the clutches of a maniac? Or will her undercover mission doom them both to imprisonment?

Spies Never Quit is a cute spy-thriller where the romance is sweet and the suspense is cozy.
Book Cover
It’s just a simple trip to New York. What could possibly happen to our loveable heroes THIS time? Faster-than-sound reptiles? Exploding Minotaurs? Generational secrets coming back to haunt them? Expect the unexpected in this third installment of The Talisman Series, “Windy City Ruins”. The war for Earth is creeping steadily closer, and Rome’s team is in a mad dash to figure out the Talismans before it’s too late. Can they amass enough talent to help them defend the realm? Or will The Tyrant King’s heinous minions sweep them off course and leave Earth ready for the taking? Windy City Ruins is the third installment of the Talisman Series.
Book Cover
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh comes Her Renegade Cowboy, the final book in the Moving Violations trilogy…

He will risk his life…

The oh-so-proper school teacher, Lily Donovan has learned, the hard way, that men are not to be trusted. Period. Until Levi Roberts, the new cowboy working at her cousin’s ranch, tempts her carefully-built resolve and awakens an all-consuming passion she thought lay dormant. But when she discovers his deadly secret, and her own secrets come to light, Lily unwittingly joins the lethal cat and mouse race between Levi and the man he’s been hunting for weeks.

To save her heart…

Former Ranger Levi Roberts has seen his fair share of deadly trouble during his years as a tough-as-nails operative. The ultimate expert in undercover investigations, he’s been tasked to find a man with a dangerous agenda in town. Routine work has been boring…until he runs into Lily, the prickly school teacher who tempts him like no other. Getting under her skin has been deliciously satisfying for his red-hot desire, but when Lily lands in the hands of the very man he’s been investigating, Levi will have to fight with every ounce of his heart and soul to save her—and to heal the heart he broke.
Book Cover
The first in a new regency romance series about two feuding families and reunited childhood enemies whose hatred turns to love.

Maddie Montgomery’s family is in debt, and her hope rests on the rival Davies clan missing their yearly “pledge of goodwill,” ceding the land that separates their estates. With Maddie’s teenage nemesis, Gryffud “Gryff” Davies, Earl of Powys, away, hope is in reach.

But then, Gryff shows up and is stunned that the tomboy he once teased is now a woman. When Gryff and Maddie discover contraband on their land, they realize it can benefit both families. But they’ve also uncovered a dangerous plot, and they need to work together to get out alive. Soon, their hatred for each other starts to feel more like attraction.

Kate Bateman brings crackling banter, steamy romance, and a dash of adventure into the first book in the Ruthless Rivals series.