Weekly Reads: September 22 to 28, 2025

The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries (2010)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Hellions of Halstead Hall series. Oliver and his siblings are given an ultimatum by their grandmother to all marry within the year to maintain their allowance and inheritance. Oliver tries to force the grandmother to back off by bringing home a totally unsuitable fiancee in the form of a brash and outspoken American woman. Maria is only in England to find her actual fiance and gets entangled into Oliver’s schemes. Lucky for them that they ultimately fall in love, plus all of Oliver’s siblings are loads of fun. Lots of drama and scandal in terms of the circumstances of how their parents passed away.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Road Trip with a Vampire by Jenna Levine (2025)

Paranormal romance. Book 3 of the My Vampires series. Witch Zelda is just trying to live her yoga studio life without magic, but her old friend Reggie sends the amnesiac vampire Peter to her door. He needs help finding his memories and she needs to let some magical steam off, so they go off on a road trip to meet at a mystery location in a threatening note he received. It’s chaos and humor as they try real hard not to hook up with each other. I loved this soft and funny approach to interacting with vampires. And Zelda’s backstory is loads of fun to learn about. Fun and easy read.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins (1998)

Historical romance. Civil War America. Book 1 of the Le Veq Family series. Loads of drama here. Sable is a slave who is about to sold to a cruel master, so when her great aunt provides a distraction, she runs away. She meets the charming Raimond at a refugee camp and they almost maybe sort of start a romance. The flirting between these two is really fun to watch though, with the brazen and outspoken Sable not giving in and fawning all over the handsome Raimond. But danger comes calling again and she runs off, possibly betraying him in the process. They cross paths many months later when Sable is going by a different name and having befriended Raimond’s mother in New Orleans. From there, we’ve got an arranged marriage, more flirting and fighting, and maybe they finally fall in love. Oh and don’t worry, that nasty villain from the beginning of the book is lurking throughout.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Kitty St. Clair’s Last Dance by Kate Robb (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. I would say the romance plot here is secondary to Jules getting her life together and learning more about her late friend Kitty. Prologue has a one night stand between Jules and Reeve that seems magical, but does not work out, for reasons to be explained later. Two years later, Jules is at a funeral for Kitty St. Clair, lively resident at the retirement home where Jules works. And unexpectedly, Jules inherits the abandoned dance hall next door. We get glimpses of Kitty’s past through her super old diary that Jules has and through Jules’ super-realistic dreams where she’s transported to the past as Kitty’s best friend. Jules has lots of decisions to make regarding her application to medical school and what to do with the dance hall property. She also happens to find a second chance with Reeve who pops back into her life at just the right time. He’s super sweet and almost too perfect, but don’t worry, we’ll have some trust issues later on. I enjoyed the ride of this book and the anticipation of learning what Jules does with the dance hall. I also loved the Kitty back story along the way.

Advance ebook provided by Dial Press via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

The Nanny’s Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes by Amy Rose Bennett (2025)

Historical fantasy romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Parasol Academy series. Super light on the fantasy; the nannies just have some basic magical powers like Mary Poppins. Otherwise, this was your fairly standard story about a duke with rambunctious orphaned wards who falls in love with the outspoken nanny. Emmeline is a graduate of the prestigious Parasol Academy and accidentally lands a job with Xavier, the clock-obsessed duke with unruly wards. They meet, she’s great with the kids, they fall in love. There’s a bit of drama with a villain trying to sabotage Xavier’s life, but otherwise, it’s a pretty predictable story.

Advance ebook provided by Kensington Books via NetGalley.