Hungry for Love by Barbara Cartland

(Image from Goodreads.com)

Araminta Sinclair is horrified when she learn her brother Sir Harry Sinclair has lost £600 gaming, to the Marquis of Wayne.

She offers to five up the small sum collected for her debut in London and then has an inspiration as to how they can obtain the rest. 

Her father, the previous Baronet, a gourmet and an epicure insisted on his daughter becoming an exceptionally fine cook. 

How Araminta enlists the help of General Sir Alexander Bracknell, one of Wellington's Commanders, how there is a bet that her cooking can rival that of Careme - the Prince Regent's Master Chef - and how her deception brings her heart-break and finally happiness is told in this dramatic 186th book by Barbara Cartland.

This has to be one of those books that even if it was stripped of all romance I would have still enjoyed it.

Heroine

I really liked Araminta. She had a head on her shoulder and she used it. When her brother gets into debts (£600!) she immediately starts thinking of how to pay it and fix the situation.

How?

She is going to cook her way to it!

Hero

Arrogant and distant the Marquis of Wayne has no qualms about taking money from young idiots who have nothing better to do than gamble away their fortunes. And then he make a bet that involves the Prince Regent’s cook and Araminta and his perception of life tips.

While not my favourite Barbara Cartland hero he isn’t my least favourite. He was a bit of an overbearing numpty but he comes through at the end.

The Romance

Hmmm…I found the romance lacking a wee bit. It was very much love at first sight and lacked a bit of development.

All in All

I really enjoyed the random cooking details about kitchens and ostrich brains (no ostriches were harmed in the reading of this book).

The occasional historical detail popped in too. 

A House for the Season by M.C. Beaton Wrap-Up

Woohoo! So I set myself the goal of finishing these books by the end of June and I did it Yipee! Why did I do this? Because I took these on holiday with me last year and I didn't get round to reading them and there was no way I was going to have them glaring at me from the shelf when I got back from this years holiday. So, there you have my reason.

Wrap-Up time!

I was going through my wrap-up post for The Travelling Matchmaker series and I've found my thoughts for these books are pretty much the same.

There were two that I really enjoyed, Plain Jane and The Adventuress but the rest I found a bit so-so and could have left unfinished but I was too stubborn to not finish the series.

I think it all boiled down to me not liking the recurring characters enough. Lizzie the scullery maid was really the only member of the staff that I cared for and wanted to see happy.

SLIGHT SPOILER

They are stuck in a miserable position with low wages and not enough fuel or food in winter because the agent of the owner of the house is basically blackmailing them into remaining by saying he will not give them references if they leave.

Now, I didn't really understand why they remained in such a horrible situation. There had to have been a way around it but instead at the beginning of every book we got told how miserable the previous winter had been. Although in all fairness that wasn't always the case.

A pet peeve for this book was that the same information about the staff would be regurgitated in the first two chapters at some point in most of the books.  This works lovely in that you can pick up any of the books, in any order and be told everything you need to know. But when it came to reading then in a row I was getting a wee bit annoyed.

These are great books to read if you are looking for something to get through in one night.

I think I did do the books a disservice by reading them one after another, so with the next Beaton series I will make an effort to spread them out a bit more.

On a good note to leave on I will say that I LOVED the introduction to the chapters. Poetry from Byron and other artists of the time on their observations of Society and the Season were wonderful to read and I will be trying to hunt down some collections of those.

Rainbird's Revenge by M.C. Beaton

When the Duke of Pelham returns to his town house at 67 Clarges Street, he is grimly determined to find a suitable wife--but completely unprepared for what the Season has to offer. The duke’s title alone has always brought him more than his share of feminine attention; claiming not to believe in love, he has never been spurned by a lady. The duke’s self-imposed search is soon disrupted by the arrival in London of Miss Jenny Sutherland, a spoiled but beautiful country girl whose vanity is her tragic flaw. According to her guardian Aunt Letitia, lack of competition has made Jenny put on airs; in London, she will get the set-down she sorely deserves. Indeed, at her first important London party, Jenny’s blatant disdain for the duke leads to certain disaster. But no one has counted on the intervention of John Rainbird, the shrewd and resourceful butler at 67 Clarges Street. Rainbird befriends Jenny, suggesting she look in the mirror a little less often. The result is a mischievous scheme that will insure Jenny’s social success and determine the fate of the close-knit family of servants at 67 Clarges Street.

This is the final book in the A House for the Season series and I found it a bit of a let down on the whole.

The Lovers
I found Jenny to be utterly unlikeable and even by the end of the book all I could think was, yes, that's all good and well but
a)no one can change that quickly in so short amount of time and
b)what is to stop her from going back to her old self loving self
as soon as I close the book. She felt like she should be instantly liked and forgiven because of her appearance and she was not a very mice person with her self-centred attitude.

The hero was just as bad. He felt like his looks, title and wealth should have women falling at his feet and he is very out out when he proposes to a woman and she refuses him. I felt like it was a reality check he was deserving and he needed to go and grow up a little bit.

This has to be the only book in the series where the hero and heroine spend the least amount of time together and I could not see the marriage working at all.

Of the new characters introduced in this book the two I loved the most where Jenny's Aunt Letitia and her friend Mrs Freemantle. Her aunt was a sweetheart and cared for her niece despite the fact she was not nice and Mrs Freemantle was so carefree. They were lovely.

The Staff
The only thing that kept me reading this book was to see how the staff would end up and to see everyone get there happy endings.

I completed the series where I started with Joseph the footmen. I really didn't like him and wanted to hit him over the head for his attitude. And I still loved Lizzie to pieces.

There was the matter of Luke - the footman from next door that wasn't tied up - but other than that there were no loose ends.

All in All
A disappointment on the whole but worth the read to see the staff of 67 Clarges Street settled and happy with their lives.

The Adventuress by M.C. Beaton

WARNING!!! SOME SPOILERS TO THE END OF THIS POST!

Beauty is a powerful magnet, and every man in the ton is drawn to the exquisite loveliness of Miss Emily Goodenough, who has rented the Clarges Street house with her rather peculiar old uncle. Only Rainbird, the butler, suspects that Miss Goodenough's origins might be less than genteel--in fact, that the beauteous Emily may be a runaway chambermaid and her "uncle" a fellow butler! But Emily has fallen desperately in love with the handsome, haughty Earl of Fleetwood, and since the bogus upstairs couple quickly wins the downstairs' servants' hearts... Rainbird and his friends are determined to make a lowly maid the catch of the Season for high society's most desirable Lord!

Very nearly at the end of the series now.

The Lovers
Emily spends the book as a nervous wreck, frightened that everyone would discover that she was an ex-servant and not a proper lady. The paranoia was realistic and not as annoying as I thought it would be from the beginning.

She is very headstrong and she has a goal in mind as is determined to achieve it. And with the help of the staff she goes from being a nobody to a somebody thanks to them spreading gossip to get society interested in her.

I found Fleetwood a bit annoying with his constant complaining about the servant class. Because he had a bad experience with his own servants when his wife was murders he tarred them all with the same brush and now can't stand them. This of course leads to plenty of internal conflict for Emily.

Fleetwood had also written a book that is about a servant girl hat sends Emily into a tizzy and has her jumping at her own shadow thinking someone based the book off of her.

What I did enjoy about this book was that it went past the wedding day, that made a nice change.

The Staff
I had my second 'Oh Lizzie'moment in this as she fancies herself in love with next doors footman after a bit of flattering from him and trusts him with the servants savings...

I still love her to bits though and she does meet a nice stranger in this so I can't wait to see where that leads too.

All in All
One of the more enjoyable of the series with a likeable heroine (even if I did want to shake her a couple of times).

Rake's Progress by M.C. Beaton

Lord Guy Carlton, late of His Magesty's regiment and weary from the war in France, has only wine, women and song in mind when he rents Number 67 for the Season. He certainly has no desire for a serious attachment - and marriage, never! Then his merry eyes spot the lovely but very proper Miss Esther Jones. But what will be her fate if she falls in love with the notorious Lord Guy? Though Esther's business acument has made her one of the rivhest women in England, her innocence could make her a victim of the wild ways of the ton, unless the downstairs staff at Clarges Street devise a campaign to reform the rake who is laying siege to her heart

Here we have a hero who just wanted to have a good time after just coming home from the wars (even if he didn't go about it in the best of ways) and a heroine who was around at the wrong time to see it.

The Lovers
Esther was a headstrong heroine who was used to looking after herself and her younger brother and sister and was more than capable of doing so. Until it came to society matters and then she was a fish out of water.

She made no secret of the fact that she disapproved of the hero after seeing 67 Clarges Street at the end of a party that he had held.

She means well and puts herself out to help people, even very nearly committing social suicide to help a young girl.

Guy did not get off to the best start in this book and when he wakes up in bed after the party with three women in his bed and can't remeber exactly what had gone on I was ready to write him off entirely. But he did grow on me through the book - not much though.

There is a sneaky valet with his own agenda who tries to put a spanner in the works and he almost miraculous curing of Guy's PTSD had me uttering a 'Yeah right'. It went down hill a bit near the end when there was a kissing/groping sessions between Esther and Guy which was a bit of a shame.

The Staff
The storyline with the romance involving Rainbird finally comes to a conclusion in this book. Thank goodness.

Unfortunately I did have my first 'Oh Lizzie' moment. She had finally got fed up of being a servant at the bottom of the food chain and puts an advertisement in the paper looking for a husband, yeah, that didn't turn out too well...

All in All
An ok addition to the series. Not the best, but then again not the worst either.

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The Wicked Godmother by M.C. Beaton

Lovely but penniless Harriet Metcalf is aghast when a nobleman's will names her guardian of his snobbish twin daughters when they come out during the next London Season! But is innocent Harriet wily enough for the intrigues of the ton-or its two most eligible bachelors, the Marquess of Huntingdon and Lord Vere? Harriet sees them as suitors for the twins, while the gentlemen see only Harriet's charms. Soon she is falling in love with one of the dashing rakes... but a cruel betrayal will be her ruin unless the Clarges Street servants can save a lady's honor when she loses her heart.

Another year and another season for 67 Clarges Street.

The Lovers
Not my favourite so far.

Harriet (the heroine) was irritatingly naive in this book nearly o the point of me putting the book down. She made some of the silliest, unsafe decisions and was blind to the actions of others that should have been glaringly obvious. It really grated on my nerves after a while and then when she did finally find out the truth I felt a little cheated by the outcome.

The hero was a numpty at one point and very nearly crossed the line in his actions towards the heroine which sent my opinion of him plummeting.

As far as the supporting characters go I loved Harriet's spinster friend. She was lovely and only wanted the best for Harriet.

The Staff
The romance(ish) with Rainbird from book two continues (kind of) in this book. I just wanted that side of the story to be over. I didn't like a mopey Rainbird at all.

All in All
Not my favourite so far...


 

Plain Jane by M.C. Beaton

"Oh, to be as beautiful as Euphemia!" plain Jane heart sighs when she joins her sister Euphemia at number 67 for the season. Then Lord Tregarthan might notice her...as she had noticed him and forever lost her heart to the most eligible bachelor of the ton.

But Euphemia's fate is to flirt through balls and into the arms of a marquis, while Jane's is to stay home, amusing herself with snooping into the strange death of Miss Clara Vere-Saxton, a former number 67 tenant...until the downstairs staff transforms a plain miss and sends her waltzing dangerously close to the secret of Clara's demise...and into a daring liaison with the lord of her dreams.

This is the second book in the series and joins the staff of 67 Clarges Street for another Season, a year after the events of The Miser of Mayfair.

The Lovers
In this instalment there is a murder mystery mised in with the romance, and as I like a good who-dunnit I did enjoy this aspect of the book.

Jane takes an interest in the death of an ex-tennant of 67 and decides to find out for herself just what happened to the young woman.

The hero decides to lend a hand because it amuses him to do so and he needs something to divert him from the boredom of the Season.

Jane was lovely and so human. She would make spur of the moment decisions and then instantly regret them. She fell in love with the hero when she was ten years old and suffers a severe reality check when she sees him in the flesh as an adult. I got a giggle out of Jane (18) thinking that 30 is old - specially as in her mind she had never thought of him as aging. She admits her own silliness though which made me like her even more.

The Staff
I love Lizzie the scullery maid. She is a sweetheart who is in love with Joseph the fickle footman who sees himself as being above her and only pays attention to her and he feels like being fawned over.She is a darling and I am sure that Joseph will never be good enough for her.

There is a wee romance involving Mr Rainbird the butler which added a new (if a bit annoying) side to the story.

All in All
A fun instalment to the series with a likeable heroine. I am really enjoying getting to know the regular character more too.

The Miser of Mayfair by M.C. Beaton

#67 Clarges Street is unlucky. Rental agent Palmer blackmails butler Rainbird and staff to stay for pittance of wages. From Scotland for the London Season, dazzling orphan Fiona sets her sights on haughty Earl of Harrington, and gives the servants first cut of her gambling winnings, insists she is the sole heir to her father Roderick Sinclair, a miser with a failing heart.

Yay, another M.C. Beaton series...although I do think it will take me a little while to get used to the recurring characters.

Thumbs Up
As with The Travelling Matchmaker series I think these books are going to be great escapist reading. In 200 pages, girl will meet boy, and after some drama, girl will get boy. Brilliant.
The heroine of the hour - Fiona - has a head on her shoulders that she uses to her advantage by acting like she has no brain at all and although she is the person that fixes situations everyone is still more than happy to continue thinking that she is nothing but an air head.
As for the recurring characters, I think that Mr Rainbird the butler and Lizzie the scullery maid are going to be my favourite members of staff from 67 Clarges Street.

Thumbs Down
Our hero of the book was a bit of a numpty and too happy to jump to conclusions about Fiona and he very nearly goes too far in a situation and this sent my opinion of him sent my opinion of his plummeting.
Although the servants of 67 are certainly a collection of characters (and I suppose we are meant to find some aspects of their personalties endearing?) but I didn't like how they treated Lizzie the scullery maid and I hope things improve where that is concerned.

All in All
Not the best introduction to a series but with the mentioning of a murder being linked to 67 I'm sure it will pop up in future books and liven things up a bit.

Young Adult Romance Shout Out! - Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot’s books (at least the ones that I have read) are great fun…well, the first time around anyway, I have come across very few of her books that I have been able to read more than once for some reason. I don’t know why this is as I thoroughly enjoy them the first go around. Any thoughts on why that could be?

Her heroines are so quirky in their own ways that it makes their stories a joy read. From Mia, who agrees to suffer through Princess Lessons to save the whales (her father donates money to Green Peace every day as long as she does), to Sam (All American Girl) who dyes all of her clothes black to shown that she is in mourning for her generations – its brilliant.

And, even if they don’t think they are, each of her heroines are intelligent and view the world in their own ways. Whether they use big words that could slaughter by score in a game of Scrabble or just some witty observation, they know their own minds.

Then there are the relationships with boys.

They aren’t perfect. Although I hate reading about glaringly obvious and cringe worthy misunderstandings, I think it is better than having a crystal clear, plain sailing relationship. It lets the readers – who I would think are mainly young girls – to see that relationships take a lot of work on both sides and may require compromise and a meeting half way on both sides or that sometimes it is up to you to be the bigger person.

(Images from Goodreads)
 

Some Fantasy Romance

So....the science-fiction romance list went to my head a little so here is a fantasy one. :)

Goddess Summoning Series

If you have a weakness for Greek mythology - like me - then I think you will really enjoy these romances as mortal women get tangled up through no fault of their own with the workings of the gods. 

 

Raine Benares Series

I LOOOOOOOVE this series. If you want to read about a feisty elf who always seems to end up in the middle of trouble and sexy goblins (goblins can be tall, dark and sinfully sexy - and if you don't believe me read these books and you will be team Goblin by the end) this series is right up your street. 

 

Young Adult - The Iron Fey Series

 

Young Adult - Need Series

Want to read about blood drinking pixies? Then go no further. 

 

Young Adult - Abandon Trilogy

The myth of Hades and Persephone is my all time favourite! I can't wait to see how the trilogy will end this year.

 

There are SO many more that I could go on with but as Fantasy is a love of mine you could be here forever so I will leave it there :)

Favourite Romance Shout Out! Petals on the River by Kethleen E. Woodiwiss

The fiery and outspoken adopted daughter of one of England's most formidable women, Shemaine O'Hearn has made powerful enemies. And now her adversaries have found a way to remove the hot-blooded beauty from her life of privilege: by falsely convicting Shemaine of thievery, and sending her in shackles to America, where she is to be sold in indentured servitude to the highest bidder.

In a bustling port city in the colony of Virginia, she becomes the servant of Gage Thornton --- a shipbuilder with a young child in need of a nanny. And despite whispered rumors condemning the handsome widower for the untimely death of his wife, Shemaine cannot ignore her desire for this caring, generous and enigmatic stranger who silently aches with his growing need for her --- even as grave peril reaches out from across a vast ocean to threaten their flowering love.

(Image and Description from Goodreads)

Petals on the River by Kathleen Woodiwiss went to the top of my favourite romance list as soon as I finished the first time around. And the terrible thing is that I very nearly never read it as my first experience with the authors work was The Elusive Flame where the ‘hero’ rapes the heroine and he sees no problem with this. Of course everyone gets their happily ever after (well those deserving of one anyway) but I just couldn’t forgive the hero for his actions and I would have loved it if the heroine had killed the rapist swine in his sleep – wishful thinking on my part obviously. BUT something made me give Kathleen Woodiwiss another try and thankfully Petals on the River was the one that I picked up.

Shemaine (heroine) is framed for stealing and after not being given a fair hearing she is shipped off to the colonies as criminal. She survived several attempts on her life and manages to ward off unwanted attentions to be bought as a bondslave when she reaches America.

Gage Thornton is a widower with a young son (because, do widowers in romance novels ever come any other way?). He isn’t interested in marrying again (yet! *wink wink*) and decides the best way to get a care for his home and his son is to buy one. So her buys Shemaine and is, of course, almost immediately taken with her. But there are some who are dead set against a beautiful young woman living under the same roof as him, and then there are the accusations that he had something to do with his wife’s death.

And who is responsible for framing Shermaine, and what about her family?

Well, you’ll have to read to find out all that ;)

One of the things that I loved the most about this book was is Andrew, Gage’s son. He is adorable.

Shemaine is a strong heroine who tries to make the best of the situation she finds herself in. My favourite part is when she doesn’t think twice about confronting the man who was a constant threat to her during the voyage when she sees him abusing someone who can’t defend themselves. She hits him with a stick! I loved it.

Gage is a strong and honourable hero- he had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of Shemaine and he leaves her alone. He tried his best to protect her from everyone who tries to abuse her, either physically or verbally.

And then there is the colourful cast of good, bad and indifferent characters.

There are some points that make me roll my eyes, like the unintended feel up (which made me cringe and laugh at the embarrassment factor) and then there are points when they talk like they walked out of the middle of a Shakespeare play.

This is still one of my favourite favourites after 6 years!

Series Shout Out! The Frog Princess by E.D.Baker

These books are fantastic fun! 

Emma is the princess of her kingdom, but she is just not princess material . She doesn't have a tinkling laugh like she should have, she is clumsy and she doesn't want to marry the person her parents have chosen for her. 

Maybe her mother could forgive her for all of these faults, if she hadn't taken after her aunt and had the magic ability that runs through the family. And then there is the curse that was placed on all of the women in her family...

I admit to being a little shallow with this series as it was the lovely, quirky, front cover that drew me to it at the start... I mean look at it! It is just so perty ;)

And then I started reading it. 

This series is a twist on the traditional tale of The Frog Prince - and if you watch the credits at the end of The Princess and the Frog (Disney) you will see that this book had an influence on the film. 

Emma the awkward non-princessy princess stumbles across Eadric - a prince who was turned into a frog by a witch. After being talked into kissing him to turn him back the spell back fires and turns her into a frog instead! Draaaaaaamaaaaaaaaa.

There is a whole cast of colourful character, from the animals Emma and Eadric meet when they are frogs to the Dragons and the banshee that lives in an abandoned castle and loved having visitors.  

*whispers* But want to know what my favourite part is?

Li'l is a bat that Emma 'rescues' from a nasty witch and she tags along on some of the adventures. And then Li'l becomes twitterpated when she meets a lovely gentleman bat. 

Guess who the bat is?

You'll never guess...

He is a vampire prince!

A vampire (who can turn into a bat) falls head over fangs in love with Li'l. I thought that their whole storyline was adorable. 

These books are great for pre-teen and teen girls I think. 

Some Science Fiction Romance

Yay! Its been a while since I have done a list, but here goes :)

In no particular order her are some space-cruising, hover-board romances!

Katherine "Kitty" Katt Series

I LOVE these covers!

Kick-Butt heroine and drool worthy (alien) hero save the world from aliens...

 

Books 1 - 6 are all available and Book 7 is due out this May (2013) so there is a whole big pile for you to go on if you like book 1!

In Death Series

There is a huge back lists with this series so if you want to stick with the characters in this futurist crime/romance series after book 1 there are 36 books so far for you to get going with :)

 

This is another series with a wonderfully strong (and hard boiled) heroine. Eve is a cop from the future and her life can get more than a little complicated when her husbands less than crystal clear history pops up from time to time. 

(I have read the first 6 books in the series and I have thoroughly enjoyed them!)

Outlander Series

There are 7 books in this series so far and each book is well over 800 pages apiece. 

 

This time hopping romance series is filled to the brim with larger than life characters and covers some well known historical happenings - from the Jacobite Rising to the Moon Landing!

Acorna Series

I loved Acorna back in the day! What isn't to love about a girl who has a horn (like a unicorn) and hooves who travels across the galaxy? Exactly! And there is some slight touches of romance to it also. To my knowledge this is a series with 10 books in it - some of the books cover Acorna's children.

 

Sirantha Jax

I can't remember when, or by who, but this series was recommended to me. I have the first book sitting in the ever growing TBR pile so if any of you guys have read these books I would love to know what you thought :)

 

Young Adult - Across the Universe

 

Young Adult - The Chemical Garden

I found the first book in this distopian series a little too disturbing to read the rest but I might pick it back up in the future. 

 

Young Adult - The Hunger Games 

Yip, I couldn't NOT mention The Hunger Games! 

Who else is looking forward to Catching Fire this year?