Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating:
Introducing the Bow Street Bachelors—men who work undercover for London’s first official police force—and the women they serve to protect. . .and wed?Shipping heiress Georgiana Caversteed is done with men who covet her purse more than her person. Even worse than the ton’s lecherous fortune hunters, however, is the cruel cousin determined to force Georgie into marriage. If only she could find a way to be . . . widowed? Georgie hatches a madcap scheme to wed a condemned criminal before he’s set to be executed. All she has to do is find an eligible bachelor in prison to marry her, and she’ll be free. What could possibly go wrong?Benedict William Henry Wylde, scapegrace second son of the late Earl of Morcott and well-known rake, is in Newgate prison undercover, working for Bow Street. Georgie doesn’t realize who he is when she marries him—and she most certainly never expects to bump into her very-much-alive, and very handsome, husband of convenience at a society gathering weeks later. Soon Wylde finds himself courting his own wife, hoping to win her heart since he already has her hand. But how can this seductive rogue convince brazen, beautiful Georgie that he wants to be together…until actual death do they part?
First up, I’m not going to lie, I read this book a while back and foolishly waited two months to properly write this review beyond words flung at a Goodreads page. A rookie mistake, I know. I should seriously know better, but I agreed to join the blog tour celebrating the release and I am a woman of my word (anyone else find it a crazy coincidence I get back into blogging around the time this post is due for the tour? You cynics you, I intended to get back into blogging sooner but this definitely gave me the push I needed to pull my finger out).
I wanted to put that disclaimer out there for any moments where this review becomes vague or if you feel like I’ve not seemed as enthusiastic as my rating makes it seem. It’s because I’ve had to flick back through and remember my favourite points and that’s difficult. But I really genuinely did enjoy this. I read it at exactly the right time and I was in the ideal mood to read it. I don’t know historical romance always leave me smiling by the end.
I loved how original the idea of this book was. I’ve read a fake relationship book. I’ve read a forced marriage. I’ve never read a book where a woman marries a convict to get out of a marriage but then finds out said convict is not actually a criminal and he hasn't died or been shipped off to the colonies as expected but instead is alive and kicking ruining the plan of becoming a widow. I mean, that concept immediately grabbed my attention because you just know it’ll be damn fun to read.
I was not wrong.
This was a great book. I knew from the first page I was going to like Georgiana. She was a woman who knew her mind and made a plan and (mostly) stuck with it. She was stuck in a bad situation where her cousin wanted to marry her for her money and she just wasn’t down for that. And she wasn’t happy marrying any the other idiots who had been interested in her because turns out they were only after her money too. Gold-diggers need not apply for the role of husband because they all wanted her money and wouldn’t accept her keeping control of her money because they thought they could do better (they were wrong).
And Benedict? Well wasn’t he just a sweetheart! I thought he might be a total alpha hero and annoy me a little but that was not the case here. He was kind and caring and he just had me swooning. I mean, I loved him from the moment he was willing to marry some random woman because she obviously must have been desperate. And their banter and flirtations were just perfect. I was swooning throughout this book because this pair was meant to be. They were perfect and even though ben seemed like he should come across as a gold-digger after her money he didn’t because he worked hard and would never try and take Georgie away from what she loves. He understood and instead was willing to work with her in his job as a bow street runner.
Sure there were plot points that were predictable but also certain plot points (namely the woman needing rescuing) were subverted in it. I would have liked Georgiana to have the chance to come to Ben's rescue but then she was the breadwinner in their relationship so there was that, but it’s a minor grumble to say you didn’t have a woman coming to the rescue.. No rich lord coming to the impoverished girls rescue here. No instead she was running a company and being a badass and who wouldn't enjoy that?
I do admit there were some majorly eye-rolling moments and there was some drama at the end, but I didn’t even care. I still enjoyed it and it was made all the better for it. I feel like some romance books aren’t made without a touch of drama.
Basically, this was a damn enjoyable book. Even if I didn’t write a review for it straight away and even though I had to flick back through it to remember everything that happened. This is a historical romance filled with great characters, some smoking sexy times and a woman who is doing it for herself (but still has to go get married to be able to enjoy her independence because women always have something to bring them down). Check it out if you want something fun and a little different.
Have you read this, what did you think? And am I alone in making the mistake of waiting to write a review?
Guess who’s back… back again. I was going to go and do the full song lyrics but thought that might be weird. I’m showing my age with an Eminem song, aren’t I?
I know I've been gone for a while and I’m sorry about that. I didn't intend to not blog, it just kind of happened. I fell off the face of the earth and gave no notice to you. I've been busy adulting and haven't been in the mood at all to read or blog because I’ve been so stressed at everything that I’ve really been taking some time for me. I think you can all understand the need to take a break. I actually only intended it to be a couple of days off for me… and then I just didn’t get the motivation to read or blog back. I mean, it completely left. Blogging and even reading your blogs was the absolute last thing on my mind. I actually really need the break it seems.
I know I've been gone for a while and I’m sorry about that. I didn't intend to not blog, it just kind of happened. I fell off the face of the earth and gave no notice to you. I've been busy adulting and haven't been in the mood at all to read or blog because I’ve been so stressed at everything that I’ve really been taking some time for me. I think you can all understand the need to take a break. I actually only intended it to be a couple of days off for me… and then I just didn’t get the motivation to read or blog back. I mean, it completely left. Blogging and even reading your blogs was the absolute last thing on my mind. I actually really need the break it seems.
I know you guys know I've been house shopping. I'm not going into details on it because I don't want to jinx anything but things are progressing well and that's probably why I've been so stressed out. There are so many things to do and so many big decisions and so much money involved! And the problem is it involved me making so many decisions and I am a terrible decision-maker. I’m excited but I really wish I could get someone else to do the leg work for me and just give me the house keys at the end. I’ll fill you guys in soon (or if you’re dying to know just message me on twitter or something, I’ll tell you everything but I feel like if I put it on my blog for anyone to see everything will fall apart).
Anyway, I think half of my problem (apart from stress) is that I've kind of lost my way with blogging. I still really enjoy it (when I'm in the mood for it) but I feel like the pressure to always be reading and blogging is a lot and I kind of felt like I've not been myself on my blog. No, that's a lie, I've been myself I just feel like I've constantly trying to be like other bloggers on my blog and I've just been going through the motions of blogging for the sake of things. I wasn't blogging for the love of it and that isn't fun. It's probably why I felt no motivation to pick my blogging back up. Add into that another reading slump and I was gone for far too long.
Even my reading slump is linked back to my blog. The pressure to be reading is a lot. I see you all reading a lot and I feel like as soon as I finish one book I should have moved on to another because I have so many unread books and I need to clear my shelves. That really hit me hard and killed my motivation but turns out I'd much rather read what I want when I want and that does, in fact, include attempting to read those old books because I have too many books and I want to clear them up a bit.
Anyway, I think half of my problem (apart from stress) is that I've kind of lost my way with blogging. I still really enjoy it (when I'm in the mood for it) but I feel like the pressure to always be reading and blogging is a lot and I kind of felt like I've not been myself on my blog. No, that's a lie, I've been myself I just feel like I've constantly trying to be like other bloggers on my blog and I've just been going through the motions of blogging for the sake of things. I wasn't blogging for the love of it and that isn't fun. It's probably why I felt no motivation to pick my blogging back up. Add into that another reading slump and I was gone for far too long.
Even my reading slump is linked back to my blog. The pressure to be reading is a lot. I see you all reading a lot and I feel like as soon as I finish one book I should have moved on to another because I have so many unread books and I need to clear my shelves. That really hit me hard and killed my motivation but turns out I'd much rather read what I want when I want and that does, in fact, include attempting to read those old books because I have too many books and I want to clear them up a bit.
During my long absence, I've been doing a whole lot of blog-related thinking. Both of my own blog and everyone's which I follow. I've begun to consider more how and what I want to blog about. I contemplated stopping, but I love visiting your blogs and you guys visiting mine and just getting to be part of the community. It’s tough, though. So many bloggers I used to visit regularly have either stopped blogging or are slowing down. I feel like we've all been hit a bit with this feeling of being lost about what we want to do. I hope we don't all stop blogging but I certainly feel like I need to change because otherwise the enjoyment will stop and then what is the point? And my blogging of the past few months has not always been filling me with joy. Why else would I so fall into another hiatus? Sure, I’ve enjoyed posts I’ve written and I always enjoy reading the comments, but it’s still felt like a bit of a chore. I want to get the joy back because I miss how excited (and nervous) I used to be to have certain posts to go up and how much I looked forward to reading each every comment. I still look forward to them but the excitement hasn’t been there.
The point of this post? Mostly to say I don't even know what I'm doing anymore but I definitely don't want to stop blogging. I love it here and I want to keep that, but whilst I've been gone I've been exploring Twitter (but not a lot), Instagram (but not posting), and Youtube. I think Youtube had the biggest impact on me wanting to stay around. I don't follow any booktubers (is that what we're calling them) and I don't think I ever will. I want to read someone's excitement about books, I'm not really one to listen and watch someone talk about them. Books don't translate in that kind of visual way for me. Even bookstagram is a bit beyond me. But the YouTubers I do watch (mostly beauty, lifestyle, gaming and travel-related) have something they love and talk about and it makes them interesting. I notice they don't all stick to one thing but have let themselves branch out and talk about whatever. They have grown and expanded and in doing so get far more enjoyment out if it. That's how I want to be on my blog. I want to be fun and talk about what I'm enthusiastic about. I always said I wanted to talk about more than books and have never fully achieved that here. This is me saying I want to do more of what I love and less of what I should be doing.
The point of this post? Mostly to say I don't even know what I'm doing anymore but I definitely don't want to stop blogging. I love it here and I want to keep that, but whilst I've been gone I've been exploring Twitter (but not a lot), Instagram (but not posting), and Youtube. I think Youtube had the biggest impact on me wanting to stay around. I don't follow any booktubers (is that what we're calling them) and I don't think I ever will. I want to read someone's excitement about books, I'm not really one to listen and watch someone talk about them. Books don't translate in that kind of visual way for me. Even bookstagram is a bit beyond me. But the YouTubers I do watch (mostly beauty, lifestyle, gaming and travel-related) have something they love and talk about and it makes them interesting. I notice they don't all stick to one thing but have let themselves branch out and talk about whatever. They have grown and expanded and in doing so get far more enjoyment out if it. That's how I want to be on my blog. I want to be fun and talk about what I'm enthusiastic about. I always said I wanted to talk about more than books and have never fully achieved that here. This is me saying I want to do more of what I love and less of what I should be doing.
- I don't want to feel obligated to review every book I read and it’s enough with having a pile of unread ARCs on my Kindle. I love getting ARCS and having a chance to read the books I’m eagerly awaiting the release of but I can’t keep not reading books. I have a whole bunch on my Kindle and shelves and I want to start focusing on older books as well as new.
- I also want to start saving money and buying less. I think I am going to have a spending limit on myself and start spending more time trying to only get the books I know I will read and not keep impulse buying in sales. And I want to spend more time utilising my local library for books. I haven’t visited in so long and although I’m using the online borrowing more I often find I borrow a book and don’t get to reading it on there. Anyway, more celebrating the free sources of books while I spend all of my money on a house.
- I want to start celebrating past books I've loved as well as current reads. And what about the books I'm excited about? I might start joining in TTT or Waiting on Wednesday to celebrate books but we shall see finding time to blog is tough.
- I also want to start celebrating bloggers I love to visit. Either through blog posts or linking to things they're talking about. My blog has become way too closed off and independent of people and I used to love feeling included. I want to spend the time sharing the love because that’s what helps motivate all of us to keep blogging.
- I want to talk about the things which interest me. I want to talk more about games, or TV. I want to talk about how I went to a really cool bar last week. I want to talk about what I'm excited about. I know you see some of that in my Sunday posts, glimpses into my real life, but I want to share more with you.
- And most of all? I don't want to contantly feel pressured to post. I won't have a schedule. I will stick to no plan and I want to try and feel ok about that. I know I've never really had a schedule before either but I kind of did in my head.
Basically, I want my blog to feel part of the community instead of a quiet little corner and I want it to help me find my love of blogging and reading again because it's something I've slowly been losing along the way. Blogging was and always will be a hobby. I don’t have many people in my life to talk about books with and blogging was the way I found an outlet for it. I can tell folks all about the books I’m reading but there are a very few folks who read as much as I do. The only person I know who reads more than me is my mom but she is a machine! She reads an insane number and puts me to shame but she is a force to be reckoned with.
Anyway, I am hoping this is a permanent thing this return of mine. I have hope that’ll I’ll get my groove back.
What motivates you to keep blogging? And what keeps you coming back even after a break? Do you find yourself being inspired by things completely unrelated to your blog?
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