This is a beloved DIK at AAR. As our reviewer wrote:

This is such a wonderful and engaging book! I always forget how much I enjoy Suzanne Enoch until I read another of her books. London’s Perfect Scoundrel features two incredible lead characters who change for the better over the course of the story – it was a joy to go along for their journey.

Evelyn is a definite society miss. She enjoys the frivolous pursuits of society and having a good time with her friends. Her brother Victor has returned from India and is hell-bent on pursuing a political career. He demands that Evelyn follow his dictates even though she begins to realize that she’s no longer having much fun…..

She passes The Heart of Hope Orphanage one day and takes a long look at the children staring out at her. She makes a later trip with a bag of candy and some good intentions half-formed in her mind. Evelyn is told that if she wants to volunteer and make further visits, she must be approved by the board of directors. Unfortunately, the director is the Marquis of St. Aubyn, better know as “Saint,” and he has no intention of letting Evelyn assuage her missish guilt with the orphans in his care.

Saint, in spite of his directorship of an orphanage, is no do-gooder. He’s probably one of the most exquisite rakes I’ve ever met. He truly doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings except his own. When Evelyn steps into his path, he feels desire for her and his only thought is how to get her into bed and then move on to the next conquest. He certainly has no thought for the orphanage that his mother saddled him with upon her death. He believes Evie to be very much like his mother, caring about the orphans only when it’s convenient….

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This B+ historical romance is a smart and sizzling read. We wrote:

Margaret Esterly is both widowed and impoverished the night her husband’s London house-cum-bookshop burns down. The only things left to her are three volumes of erotic literature called The Journals of Augustin X. When she discovers two years later that her husband had several potential buyers lined up before he died, she thinks she has found a road out of the grinding poverty she faces as a teacher in a small village.

The night she delivers the first volume to the buyer also happens to be the night of a costume ball and, curious soul that she is, Margaret cannot help but spy a little. She is caught, however, by Michael Hawthorne, Earl of Montraine, and the two of them share a sizzling almost-kiss. Michael, who also happens to be one of England’s best code breakers, finds his logical, orderly life disrupted by beautiful Margaret: he’s unable to concentrate on anything until he discovers who the mysterious woman is and claims the interrupted kiss. Needless to say, Michael successfully tracks Margaret down, and after some bargaining, he gets his kiss (and a whole lot more – cue this reviewer running to the kitchen for a much-needed glass of cold water at this point).

Margaret is an honorable soul and refuses to become Michael’s mistress. He is nothing if not persistent, however, and he finally manages to maneuver her into staying with him for a week. At this point, their relationship finally transcends mere physical obsession and becomes something more meaningful. But naturally the path to happily-ever-after is not smooth. Michael’s family is dangerously close to financial ruin and he needs to marry an heiress, not a penniless commoner. Then there’s also the secret contained in the Journals of Augustin X, and the man who is willing to kill to acquire them.

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This box set is a very good deal. We gave one of the novel in it a B+. 

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Our reviewer gave this historical romance a B+. She wrote:

Victoria Alexander’s latest, The Husband List, is an enjoyable tale in the tradition of Julia Quinn and other writers of humorous historicals set in the regency period. Fans of her most recent novel, The Wedding Bargain, will want to read this one – the heroine of The Wedding Bargain even makes a brief appearance.

Noted salon hostess Lady Gillian Marley has a dilemma: she must remarry before her thirtieth birthday (in two months!) or forfeit a very large inheritance which would grant her financial independence and help her support the female artists who have few opportunities in Regency England. Her best friends from childhood, Robin and Kit (yes, they are men), compose a list of completely unsuitable candidates as a joke. Much to their dismay, Gillian approaches one, Richard Shelton, the Earl of Sherbrooke, and suggests a marriage in name only.

Richard was once a notable rake, but upon his dissolute father’s death, he reformed himself to care for his four sisters and restore the family’s name to respectability. Still, he’s not such a perfect gentleman as to agree to a celibate marriage, so he decides to take some time to convince Gillian that this marriage in name only is not what she really wants. Fearing that his respectability may be a turn-off, Richard also woos Gillian as his alter ego, the French painter Etienne-Louis Toussaint. Richard paints under this name because he fears his true identity would not be taken seriously in the art world.

Happily for those tired of virgin widows of trolls, Gillian’s first marriage, to her childhood sweetheart Charles, was deeply loving. Even eight years after his death, Gillian is afraid to love again. For all his charm, Richard is still a Regency lord, and marrying for love has never crossed his mind – until now. Do Gillian and Richard really want money, lust, or love? And what of Gillian’s attraction to the mysterious Toussaint, who will not show his face and speaks with a remarkably fake-sounding accent, and Richard’s stubborn assertion that women cannot be great painters?

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This Garwood got a straight up A from us. In our DIK review, we wrote:

Raised in the Colonies, Caroline Richmond’s first significant act upon her return to England is to single-handedly come to the rescue of a dandy who has been set upon by thugs. She shoots two of the bandits while the injured gentleman whimpers and whines inside his carriage – he has been wounded in an anatomically delicate place, but grieves more over his ruined boots than the near loss of his (love) life!

From this, Caroline concludes that all English gentlemen are fops, and so is overwhelmed when Jered Benton, the Duke of Bradford, masculinity personified, arrives on the scene. Bradford is enthralled by the courageous and beautiful violet-eyed lady who, not certain whether he is friend or foe, threatens to shoot his horse if he doesn’t drop his weapon! Completely obsessed by wanting Caroline, Bradford begins a campaign to win her, in spite of the fact that she is terrified of, and even angered by, his insistent pursuit. He wants her in his bed, and says so; she wants his love and trust, and says so. Therein lies the tale….

There’s lots more to the book, but I don’t want to give it away. Let me just say that Julie Garwood has hit dead-on, and with a fair amount of humor, some strategic differences between men and women. How Caroline assesses how she will deal with Bradford, and then how she goes about turning him slowly to her way of thinking, is funny and smart. She understands that “Jered” and “the Duke” are two different facets of the same man, and that she can love both of them. Julie Garwood’s Caroline is the best we women have to offer: intelligence, inner strength, loyalty, courage, wit, charm, and humor. Read this book.

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This Scottish story also got a B+ from us. We wrote:

Don’t you love it when you pick up a book, and it turns out to be an unexpectedly delightful surprise? That was my experience with Taming the Scotsman.

Eleanor (Nora) ingen Alexander is desperate. Betrothed to Ryan MacAren, a man she doesn’t love, she seeks out Ewan MacAllister, a man universally feared. When Nora finds Ewan, at home in his cave, he’s in bed naked and asleep. Nora’s arrival marks the anniversary of Ewan’s brother’s death, an event he believes is his fault and he’s less than pleased when Nora interrupts his wallowing. Ewan is really less than pleased when he hears her reason for coming to him: she needs him to escort her to her aunt’s home in England. This is the same (albeit false) reason Ewan’s former lover gave him and that eventually resulted in in his brother’s death. Ewan reluctantly gives in and discovers that Nora may be the perfect woman for him…..I recommend Taming the Scotsman next time you’re in the mood for a light medieval romance.

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.