PinkcowlandReads

Second Chance on Cypress Lane Holly Grove Island, Book 1 by Reese Ryan ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 Scandal sends Dakota back to her small town beach home. SHe’s stayed away for the past 5 years and only infrequently visited since high shcool… being dumped by your first love can do that to you. Now that Dakota is finally back in Holly Grove, Dexter will do anything to get back into her good graces after breaking both their hearts with their break up years ago… can they become friends again? Could they become more?? The possibility seems viable until their work situations line up to make Dexter Dakota’s boss… This was a sweet coming home story that really focused on the idea that you can always come home. Dakota has been gone for so long, but Holly Springs is still her home and welcomes her back into the fold with open arms. She reconnects not only with her first love, but old friends and strengthens her relationship with her father. Low on steam, but high on relationship building, this was a comf...

When a Rogue Meets His Match Greycourt Series, Book 2 by Elizabeth Hoyt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 There is no other author that totally envelops me in their world as fast as Elizabeth Hoyt. She makes Georgian London come to life from the dregs of society to the highest peer! Raised in the gutters of St. Giles, Gidieon Hawthorne is just as ambitious as he is ruthless! He has elevated himself up from the streets to now holding a position for a Duke and owning his own respectable manse. Now all he needs to do is find a way to get an in to society and it appears the the lovely Messalina Greycourt, nice to his employer is his ticket. After finding out that her uncle has promised her to his henchman, Mr. Hawthorne, Messalina takes her future Ito her own hands by crafting her own deal with the devil, her soon to be husband, that will see to her receiving half her dowery after a month of marriage and thus a way to escape! Soon after their marriage these two nemesis find that they work better as a te...

Courting Trouble The Goode Girls, Book 2 by Kerrigan Byrne ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 Picking up where we left off in A Dark and Stormy Knight, Honoria Goode, Nora to her friends, has been shot by her husband. To save her life, she is disked off to the best surgeon in London, Titus Conlieth, who happens to be her first love! Soon we are sent back in time to the being of Nora and Titus’s romance, where they meet while he is in service as a coal boy for her household. His quick action and diligence and up saving hNora’s life when she contract Typhus and set him on the path of medicine and puts the wheels in motion for their love and heartbreak. As I have found with Kerrigan’s work, this is a fast paced story that keeps you riveted and turning pages. I could barely put this book down until the last page!  This book had a good amount of steam and the character have great chemistry. The mixing of classes is done well and Kerrigan does. Great job depicting the grittier side of London life in co...

Hiring Mr. Darcy Austen Hunks Book 1 by Valerie Bowman ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 There is nothing as cut throat as Bath’s Jane Austen Festival and Games! Ok… I may be exaggerating! But when the games come between a couple, Megan Knightly will do anything to win, even hire a new partner/ Mr. Darcy with only two weeks to get him up to snuff. But where does someone find a man willing to playact as Mr. Darcy and is ready to drop everything and head off to Bath in two weeks time? How about your brothers’ childhood friend who has had a crush on your oblivious self forever!!!! This was such a fun read! I loved all the prep for the games, the perfection that was Jeremy Remington (Mr. Darcy stand in). Am I a fan of a love triangle and unrequited love??? Not too much, but I knew this was a proper romance and the good guy was going to end up with the girl in the end that made some of the more cringe worthy moments tolerable… Cringe worthy moments included Meg’s boyfriend dumping her as a partner for th...

Just Like This Albin Academy #2 by Cole McCade ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 When a students extra curricular activities start affecting his health, coach Damon Lewis reaches out to the his polar opposite, My Falwell, the arts teacher. Mutual interest in their students welfare creates strange bedfellows! As they grudgingly work together they soon find out that there is more than mutually animosity that sparks between them. Soon they discover they are more similar than they could have imagined and the sparks between them threaten to set them aflame! I’m a big fan of Albin Academy and the interactions between the teachers and students. They are all fighting against the world until they discover that the family they all crave is right here at Albin! Cole McCade does an excellent job at representing the different rings of society and finds their similarities in a way that makes the reading connect to the characters on a high level. As always, Carina Press delivers the happily ever after I crave! An...

Undressed with the Marquess Lost Lords of London, Book 3 by Christi Caldwell ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 Trigger warning at the end of review. The final lost lord has been found, and none too soon! Dare Grey was moments away from dangling from a noose! Our last lord is an unrepentant thief who steal from the rich to give to the poor, a Regency Robin hood! Returned to the life he left, he is now the Marquess, and as such, he must see to the succession and find a husband for the sister he never knew… in order to receive the funds his grandfather, the duke promised upon his return. Once he succeeds at one of these, he will have his funds and can go back to East London and continue helping it’s people. Dare decides the easiest way to start this process is to get his long abandoned wife and bring her home as his Marchioness. Temperance Swift does not easily go along with this plan, but after a deal is struck, she attempts to help Dare achieve at least one of his goals… find a husband for his sister....

The Formidable Earl Diamonds In The Rough, Book 6 by Sophie Barnes ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 The sixth instalment in the Diamonds in the Rough series picks up where we left off in the last book with the mysterious bordello resident, Ida Strong being recognized and outed as the daughter of an infamous traitor. And who is the one to find our misses identity, but the one and only Earl of Fielding whom had his fiancé stolen from him by the Duke of Huntley in the first book of the series!!! Our prim and and proper earl feels responsible for the wrong he has caused Ida, and decides to join her fight to find the true criminals that framed her father for treason. There is a big class divide between these two, and their sparks of attraction only make it worse. Simon has a had time reconciling that in order to have anything with Ida, he needs to step down from his high horse of proper and respectable behaviour and truly accept her. I found Simon’s character and beliefs too condescending for me and I was n...

Forever With You A Sapphire Springs Novel, Book 1 by Barb Curtis ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 High school sweethearts are given a second chance after 15 years when family drama drama and machinations force them to wrk together. This sweet romance follows our star crossed lovers, Jay and Layna, as they reunite at the local winery owned by Jay’s grandfather. Heath concerns have made him call in all his partners and shuffle things around the winery. While Layna is under contract to open up a restaurant at the winery, she had no plans to do it under the management of her ex, Jay when he returns and is slated to take over the winery… These two are both very dedicated to their families and their family businesses. They find a way to get around their hurt feelings and work together and soon find themselves back in each others arms… Trust issues rear back up in the picture as family dynamics and the fear of failure push Jay back out of Sapphire Springs… but second chances don’t come along every day and h...

Notorious Rebels of the Ton, Book 1 by Minerva Spencer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 An excellent start to a new series! Drusilla Clare does not expect to ever marry and thus she has created a satisfactory life working with her charities for the betterment of women and the poor… that is until she is almost compromised by a mad rake! Now she is to marry her best friends brother, whom she has loved since she met him… but Never has been able to have a civil conversation with!!! Oh boy! Gabriel Marlington came to his mothers home country of England five years ago and turned his back on her Berber roots. As the favoured son of his Sultan father he would have had many wives, now as an Englishman, he will have one… and not even of his choosing! Honour bound to save the reputation of his sisters’ friend, he must now marry a woman who doesn’t even like him! Oh my! What a wild ride it is as these two try to find common ground and eventually work together to defeat an even bigger foe! Drusilla and Gabriel ...

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 I laughed and I cringed and I couldn’t put it down! Rachel Bloom’s memoir and look into what normal is was a relatable read that had be hooked form the first page. I found so many times I thought, “that’s just like me!” And many times I was left thinking… “really Rachel?!?!”.  Rachel’s unique story telling technique is addictive and I felt while reading her book that I could read happily continue reading this book for a long time… too bad it ended! Thats the problem with a memoir or biography, the story is finite…  This book was entertaining and felt like I was hearing stories from a very hilarious storytelling friend. For someone who was fought with what is normal and felt on the outside often in life, this book was just the uplifting read I needed! I can’t recommend this book highly enough, especially for fans of the movie Welcome to the Dollhouse (wink, wink). I Want to Be Where the Normal Peo...

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem A Lady’s Guide #1 by Manda Collins ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 Finally a historical romantic mystery that actually is a romance!!! It was. Delight to read this romantic mystery that starts as both a Scotland Yard detective and a newspaper columnist investigate the same serial killer. Columnist Lady Bascomb quickly makes as enemy of detective Eversham when her interview of a missed witness and subsequent article soon ends up with the detective being removed from the case end the wrong man arrested! These enemies are soon brought back together when Lady Bascomb discovers another murder victim at her friends house party. Instead of fighting each they decide to combine their skills and work together to find the true culprit! Mutual respect and admiration soon finds these unwilling partners surely connecting! I loved the theme of women empowerment found throughout this book. Lady Bascomb was an independent woman and used her recourses to lift up other wome...

The Truth About Dukes Rogues to Riches #5 by Grace Burrowes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 Trigger warnings provided at end. Grace Burrowes has manage to grab me by the heartstrings and bring me along for another emotional rollercoaster of a romance! My heat ached with sorrow and joy as I read this book. The fifth book in the Wentworth series continues where we left off from A Rogue by Any Other Name. Lady Althea and her Lord Nathanial are planning their nuptials, and their siblings are busy re-establishing their secret acquaintance. Lady Constance is not a woman free of skeletons in her closet and soon her budding relationship and romance with the true Duke of Rothmere will bring them to light. Can Robert, the at long last returned duke be able to handle his lady loves scandal as he fights to prove his sanity and fitness to be the duke? These character were both so fascinating had me quite invested in them eventually acquiring their HEA. Both have suffered so much in their youth and now find s...

The Gentleman and the Thief The Dread Penny Society, Book 2 by Sarah M. Eden ⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5 The Dead Penny Society is up to their old tricks and the streets of 1860’s London is all the safer for it! In this instalment we follow the antics of the groups most aristocratic member, Hollis Darby as he investigate the thieving of the Phantom Fox and try to romance the lovely, yet reclusive Ana Newport, whom works as a music instructor. While working on his investigation fro the Society , Hollis finds out that Ana has some special skills that he could use to help him, thus allowing for more time together. They soon learn that they have more in common than mutual acquaintances… This was another delightful romantic mystery! I loved hove the characters lives intertwined without them know for so long! Both characters have plenty of secrets and like an onion, the secrets are slowly peeled  away in this sweet tale. Just like in the first book of the series, The Lady and the Highwayman, th...