Showing posts with label London Ladies Embroidery Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London Ladies Embroidery Series. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

LOVE MATCHED by Laney Hatcher & Smartypants Romance BLOG TOUR

 

Love Matched, an all-new charming opposites attract historical romance from Laney Hatcher, is available now in Kindle Unlimited!

There are three things you need to know about Lady Cassandra Fields:

1. Despite being beloved, this diamond of the first water has yet to land a husband.

2. Her bold personality and giving heart help fuel her charitable endeavors.

3. She’s looking for adventure--something beyond ballgowns, drawing rooms, and her ladylike skill with needle and thread.

Thus far, Cassandra’s abysmal luck has kept her from reaching her goals. With no husband and no household, she’s beginning to wonder if she has a future at all. A surprising encounter with a cunning thief brings more to light than Cassandra is prepared to handle. But the lady has never backed down from a challenge, and it seems this mystery man might have finally met his match.

When circumstances, once again, threaten Lady Cassandra’s dreams, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her careful plans for the thief who has stolen her heart.

‘Love Matched’, a Penny Reid Universe Reimagining, is a full-length historical romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #3 in the London Ladies Embroidery series, Smartypants Romance Out of this World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/47q1yu8

Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3QxFTtW

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Audible: https://bit.ly/3LgseUu

Excerpt

The fire was banked but my bedchamber was warm. I wandered in the relative darkness over to my dressing table and deposited my elaborate mask. Folding my shawl, I placed it on the cushioned seat before hearing a quiet tap on my balcony doors.

Something instinctual within told me who I would find. My heart accelerated with expectation rather than fear.

Moving cautiously, I went to the closed window overlooking the garden and down into the mews. I peered sidelong at the dark form standing just outside my exterior doors, on the second floor of my home.

Anticipation bloomed eager and hopeful, and I threw open the latch. Alexander stood sentry on the small balcony, his hair slightly tousled, expression guarded. His eyes dipped once again to my bodice, but returned admirably after just a moment.

“I was not ready to say good night,” he admitted, finally acknowledging his presence here in my home.

“Somehow I don’t imagine the lock would have posed a challenge for you.”

“I thought it better to ask permission rather than forgiveness.”

“That doesn’t sound like you at all,” I quipped.

He smiled, a weak and wounded thing. “Perhaps I am trying to be more respectable.”

I reached forward and tugged the lapels of his jacket. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

As we moved within, I felt him smile against my lips before he reached low around my thighs and hoisted me up. His boot lifted and he pushed the balcony door gently shut. Then we were shuffling, in the dark, toward my bed. Alexander didn’t bother turning down the coverlet. My back landed softly and he followed, lips still caressing mine.

His weight was a delicious press in the darkness. I felt both bound and safely ensconced. My legs were wide but the bunch of my skirts inhibited full contact between us. I felt his tongue ease forward and lick into my mouth, the heat and movements slow and seductive. One large hand still clutched my outer thigh while the other supported his upper body where he hovered above me.

I broke away from his mouth and squirmed in his arms, reaching for a candle and a match on my bedside table.

“Leave it,” he begged, voice rough and strained. “If I clearly see your face, your body, I’ll come to my senses and climb down your trellis, calling myself every kind of fool for forgetting my place.”

“Your place,” I said, “is right here. With me.” 

About Laney Hatcher

Laney Hatcher is a firm believer that there is a spreadsheet for every occasion and pie is always the answer. She is an author of stories that have a past, in a language of love that’s universal. Often too practical for her own good, Laney enjoys her life in the southern United States with her husband, children, and incredibly entitled cat.

Find Laney online

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Saturday, October 14, 2023

Review: Love Matched by Laney Hatcher

Love Matched Love Matched by Laney Hatcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both a print and audio arc of this book via the author and Smartypants Romance, all opinions are my own.  The audiobook is narrated by Lillian Rachel and she does a wonderful job with the narration.

This is the best book in the series by far.  Hatcher's retellings of the Knitting in the City series keep getting better with each installment!  This is Sandra and Alex's story retold as Lady Cassandra, daughter of a duke who attends all of the premier events in the hopes of making a match and finding a husband.  She has terrible luck and each of her suitors ends up having some awful and hilarious event occur during their courtship.  Enter Alexander, a footman well below her station, but she is drawn to him nonetheless.  

I loved how the author got creative with the characters to put them in 19th Century London vs present day Chicago where the original source material was set.  I also love revisiting with the original characters as part of the embroidery circle of aristocratic ladies and how she maintained their friendship and kept true to the nature of each of the characters while still telling a unique and new story of her own.  

I loved watching Cassandra and Alexander's relationship unfold.  She is blunt and bold, always seeking adventure, which is something a lady of her status is not typically known for.  He works odd jobs to make ends meet and has a past he isn't proud of, but finds it hard to resist her charms.  He does his best to remind her that they are not a good match despite their chemistry and attraction, but Lady Cassandra does what she wants and throws caution to the wind when she finally finds love.  Fortunately she has a family and group of friends that will support her no matter what.  

If you are a fan of the Knitting in the City series, you have to read this Regency reimagining.  It is executed so well.  It stays true to the original, while being something completely new.  This series is so fun to revisit favorite characters in a new setting and new adventures.  

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Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Review: Neanderthal Seeks Duchess by Laney Hatcher

Neanderthal Seeks Duchess Neanderthal Seeks Duchess by Laney Hatcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

This is the first reimagining and the first historical romance we've seen from the Smartypants collection. All of the other books are set in the Pennyverse, but this one is a retelling inspired by the Knitting in the City series set in London. If you haven't read Knitting in the City have no fear this reads as a standalone. It does share similarities with the original work Neanderthal Seeks Human as all retellings do, but this offers a unique take on the story and characters.

I very much enjoyed this imagining. I thought the author did a good job taking the original story and characters and moving them to regency London. She did a good job staying true to the original premise and characters while putting her own spin on things. I adored the original and it was so fun to relive Jane and Q's romance all over again through this different lens. My guess is she is going to continue on with the rest of the ladies in a similar fashion and I can't wait to see what she does with the rest of the embroidery circle!

I will say there were times where the author broke from the very proper language of the time and used common day language. Jane would be speaking or thinking in a very proper way then she would say/think "That was weird". While it fit the original Janie, it felt out of place in this book. Then again I'm not a big reader of regency romance, so that might be completely normal. Overall, I thought this was a really fun concept and I can't wait to see what the author has in store for the rest of the ladies of the "ton".

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