ST. MARTIN’S PRESS HOLIDAY ROMANCE TITLES

With this Christmas Ring by Manda Collins

A wallflower determined to fulfill a dying promise, the rogue she jilted years ago, and an orphaned baby are all brought together amidst the magic of Christmas in this new novella from Manda Collins. 
Miss Merry Parks makes a deathbed promise to a school friend that her infant daughter will be taken to her absent father. There’s only one problem—to find the baby’s father, she’ll have to consult his cousin, Viscount Wrotham, the man she jilted five years ago. The man she couldn’t forget. 
Alex Ponsonby, Viscount Wrotham, is stunned to find Merry Parks—looking more lovely than ever--on his doorstep with an infant in her arms. His shock soon turns to dismay when he learns his own cousin William is the man who abandoned his wife and child. As head of the family he’s duty bound to see right is done. But he can't let this opportunity pass. He’ll take Merry and the baby to his cousin, but he’ll woo her back in the process.
Merry agrees to travel with Alex and the baby to Wrotham Castle, where the entire Ponsonby family has gathered for Christmas, but her plans to see the baby settled then leave are ruined by a snowstorm. After five years apart, Alex and Merry will spend the week getting reacquainted. Perhaps it’s the spirit of the holiday, or the magic of the season, but there could be something else in the air this Yuletide…A Christmas Reunion.

Manda Collins is the author of the Studies in Scandal series, The Lords of Anarchy series, The Ugly Duckling series and the Wicked Widows series as well as several other Regency-set romances. She spent her teen years wishing she’d been born a couple of centuries earlier, preferably in the English countryside. Time travel being what it is, she resigned herself to life with electricity and indoor plumbing, and read lots of books. When she’s not writing, she’s helping other people use books, as an academic librarian.

The Christmas Cowboy Hero by Donna Grant

Review---A VERY RUBY CHRISTMAS by Lavinia Kent * * * * *

Title: A VERY RUBY CHRISTMAS

Series: Bound and Determined #4.5

Author: Lavinia Kent

Genre: Holiday Romance/Regency Historical

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Loveswept (Nov 15, 2016)

eBook: 198 pages

ISBN: 9780399593871

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

A winter storm stirs passions long denied in this sensual Yuletide romance, a short novel featuring the characters who once led Library Journal to declare, “Ruby and Derek's chemistry is just as explosive during their unbridled trysts as with their slow, ardent lovemaking.”
 Madame Rouge—Ruby to her intimates—always makes the secret desires of her clients a priority. Now the time has come to fulfill her own fantasy, one so private it brings a rare blush to her cheeks. When Captain Derek Price returns from his service to the sea, Ruby will sell London's elite house of pleasure, leaving behind her very home to marry the sailor who has mastered every surging crest of her body.
 Pity, then, the ill-timed arrival of Ruby's estranged half-sister, Jasmine, desperate for a warm bed and a sympathetic ear. Ruby is loath to marry the poor girl off to a stranger or, even worse, entrust her to the ignoble lord who has bid on the brothel. She has no other choice than to shelter Jasmine herself. As much as Ruby's heart races at the thought of a future with Derek, she now faces the possibility that, once again, her happy ending has been delayed—unless a Christmas miracle makes all their dreams come true.
 
A Very Ruby Christmas is intended for mature audiences. This ebook includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

GOODREADS

I have not read the earlier books in this series but despite being lost once in awhile, I still thoroughly enjoyed this holiday read. I will, however, add these earlier books to my wishlist as Kent managed to pack a whale of a story in less than 200 pages. Wow, it seemed much longer (in a good way) while I was reading it. Can't wait to pile up with a full length novel of hers.
I love when characters can rise above their past and go on to celebrate their own HEA. Ruby's occupation is not one that is often addressed in a Regency and I really enjoyed seeing this loving character reach out to her half-sister and possibly endangering her future in order to help someone else.

Praise for Lavinia Kent's Bound and Determined series

“[A] tale of sexual exploration and liberation . . . the hottest historical romance story I've ever read.”—Heroes and Heartbreakers, on Mastering the Marquess

“Sexy, steamy . . . an entertaining read.”—Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews, on Mastering the Marquess

“A refined, sophisticated and tasteful historical romance . . . The mood is very seductive but still playful, and the sex scenes are scorching hot. . . . Revealing Ruby is superbly written, moves along quickly; it's a very enjoyable read.”—Fresh Fiction, on Revealing Ruby

“Ruby and Derek's chemistry is just as explosive during their unbridled trysts as with their slow, ardent lovemaking.”—Library Journal, on Ravishing Ruby

Bound and Determined Series

1. Mastering the Marquess (2014)

1.5. Revealing Ruby (2015)

2. Bound by Bliss (2015)

3. Angel in Scarlet (2016)

Ravishing Ruby (2016)

A Very Ruby Christmas (2016)

Lavinia Kent never knew that most people don’t make up stories in their heads to pass the time. She still has a hard time understanding how those who don’t survive the doctor’s waiting room or a grocery store line without another world to escape into.She lives under the gracious rule of Erzsebet, the cat, along with her husband, three children, one cockatiel, two rats, and Erzsebet’s younger, subordinate tomcat, otherwise known as The Golden Snitch.