Vivid by Beverly Jenkins (1995)

Historical romance. Post-Civil War Michigan. Book 1 of the Grayson Family series. A female doctor in this era is a tough sell, but Dr. Viveca Lancaster (Vivid to her family) is ready to prove herself in a small town in Michigan. It doesn’t help that the town sorta-mayor Nate is skeptical of her wanting to stick around. He’s got his own hang-ups after his city-bred wife divorced him. But Viveca fits right in and definitely shows her competence to all the townsfolk. Of course the angry bickering between Nate and Viveca turns into flirting and so much more. Not much in the way of external plot for most of the book, but once we have our sights on a villain, Ms. Bev makes sure they get their comeuppance.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Jewel by Beverly Jenkins (2008)

Historical romance. 1880s Michigan. Book 2 of the Grayson Family series. Eli just needed a pretend wife for one dinner with a big city newspaperman to earn an investment, but ended up with a real wife instead when gossip gets out. Jewel is the only daughter of the gruff and surly lumbarjack and used to caring for her many older brothers. She never expected to marry, and especially not to Eli, the man she’d had a teenage crush on. She tries to make sure this is a marriage in name only, but he’s trying to convince her to make a real go of the relationship. It’s a lot of flirting and seducing on Eli’s part to get Jewel to comply. The romance is here is fairly predictable, but it was nice catching up with this town again and seeing everyone work together to built Jewel and Eli’s new house. Danger comes back into town in the form of cousin Nate’s ex-wife and we get to see all the chaos she brings with her.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org // Libro.fm

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