Laura Trentham

I never want to read about a wedding on Christmas ever again.

I am so so so glad I am FINALLY done with this. The relief! While I actually enjoyed more of the stories than I expected, this went downhill when I read the whole second half over the last week.


THINGS I LEARNED FROM THIS ANTHOLOGY (in categories cause I'm just that sick of everything)
Plot & character things
- All men speak in a rich baritone
- A woman's hair is always long and usually curly
- Every blonde woman is an angel (twice the show more angel if her hair is also blonde & curly)
- Scotsmen are always rugged and we'd forget they're Scottish if they didn't call the heroine "lassie" in at least every second sentence
- Epilogues only exist to show us that the heroine is pregnant
- Isn't it funny to call this heroine in Christmas romance anthology Holly? So original!

Sex things
- "It's called a cock."
- There's always oral sex before the virgin is deflowered (or "claimed", as most stories put it. By his rod.)
- "What was that?!" - "It's called an orgasm."

Actual serious criticism
- People of color didn't exist in 19th century England, not even as servants (except for that one story)
- Neither did queer people
- Beta readers for spelling and grammar? We don't need them cause we're just THAT good. 99% of these mistakes were things spellcheck should've picked up on, what are you even doing?!
- Apparently spanking is so sexy that there's no need to distinguish it from abuse. Hard disagree.


INDIVIDUAL RATINGS (to be taken with a grain of salt, especially those at the beginning - when I wasn't sick of the premise yet - and those at the end, when I was too sick of the premise. I've also got an update with a mini review after every single story for you to enjoy...)
Hell's Wedding Bells - 4 stars
Two Lady Scoundrels and a Duke - 1 star
A Wicked Wedding - 5 stars
The Lady's Guide to Mistletoe and Mayhem - 1 star
The Russian Betrothal - 4 stars
Beautifully Reckless - 2 stars
The Mistletoe Mistress - 3 stars
Deeds Not Words - 2 stars
Holly and the Beast - 3 stars
The Winter Bride - 3 stars
Mistletoe Kisses - 3 stars
The Christmas Countess - 2 stars
Mischief and Mistletoe - 2 stars
Kidnapped With the Knight - 1 star
The Russian Prince's Bride - 4 stars
Christmas Charity - 3 stars
The Angel of an Astronomer - 4 stars
Wassail, Wagers and Weddings - 3 stars
Highland Yule - 1 star
Marrying Miss Bright - 3 stars
Kiss Me, Macrae - 3 stars
Holly and Old Lace - 1 star
Home for Christmas - 2 stars
A Spinster at the Highland Court - 2 stars
The Holiday Hussy - 1 star
December Debauchery - 3 stars
Wedded in Winter - 2 stars show less

Every book by Laura Trentham is a joy. You laugh, you cry, you put your hand over your heart and say, “Ooohhh.” They are always sweet stories with a lot of love and a good amount of heat and some serious situations that the characters have to work through. So before I even started reading The Military Wife I was certain that I would love it.

But this time, in a genre that she stated is new to her, author Laura Trentham has outdone herself. This book touched me; it found a place in my show more heart and wouldn’t leave. I am the wife of a retired airman and the mother of a retired sailor and the grandmother of an active duty soldier. And I can tell you that The Military Wife nails it on all counts. I felt like I was back on base, in a wives’ group, enduring a deployment. I could feel the pain of the servicemember and the frustration of the spouse left behind, trying to simultaneously be strong and supportive while at the same time wanting to have a career or a fulfilling purpose in life beyond the military walls.

Harper is strong, but stuck in life, afraid to move forward, not wanting to leave Noah’s memory behind. Bennett is damaged not only by everything he experienced in the military but also by his early life, and he is determined to keep the doors shut to further heartache. There is conflict and animosity between them but at the same time an attraction that, much to Harper’s dismay, feels stronger in some ways and somehow more adult than what she had with Noah. Harper’s friend Allison and her former SEAL husband Darren are experiencing something not at all uncommon to military families – he is desperately trying to cope – stoically alone – with the effects of things he has done and seen, and she is desperately trying to support him without prying, without making him feel worse, and without letting any of it affect their family. None of that is really possible and that makes for some tough times.

The Military Wife seems very different from this author’s Cottonbloom series, more serious, a totally different atmosphere and environment. But in the ways that count it is very much the same: strong, compelling well-developed characters, a storyline and smooth, easy-flowing plot that move quickly and pull you along so that you can’t put the book down, intrigue, love, joy sadness, with satisfying situations and relationships that give you a hint and promise of what’s to come, leaving you wanting more. All in all just a fantastic read.

The Military Wife is the first in Laura Trentham’s new A Heart of a Hero series. I am looking forward to many more stories in this series. I received a copy of this book from the publisher St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own – I loved The Military Wife and highly recommend it. show less

A Highlander in a Pickup by Laura Trentham
Book #2: Highland, Georgia Series
Source: NetGalley and St. Martin’s
My Rating: 4½/5 stars

Anna Maitland has got her hands beyond full. In the absence of her best friend, Isabel Blackmoor, Anna is in charge of organizing and seeing through the Highland Games. In addition to that monumental task, Anna has her dance school to run, classes to teach, an application to run for mayor to fill out and turn in, and a broody Scot to keep at bay.

Anna is show more determined to accomplish every task, monitor every situation, attend to every detail, and do it all without help! Relying on others is certainly not Anna’s strong suit and she needs the town to see her as capable, efficient, innovative, and dedicated if she expects the town to back her for mayor. Iain Connors is just a sexy thorn in her side and all she needs him to do is clean up the animal poop and stay out of her way. Anna is fine and she doesn’t need help!

Iain Connors is a bit adrift in his life. The plan has always been the plan, when his father is finally ready to retire as Cairndown Castle’s groundskeeper, Iain will slide into his position and work the land as his father always has. Yes, that’s always been the plan, but now, just as the moment is upon him, Iain isn’t entirely sure that’s what he wants out of life. When the opportunity to travel to Highland, Georgia arises, Iain jumps at the chance to spread his wings and see what the world across the big pond has to offer.

Highland, Georgia isn’t at all what Iain expected. He’s been dispatched to help Anna Maitland with the Highland Games and while he is ready and willing to help, the feisty dancer has other plans. All Anna wants Iain to do is scoop the poop and stay out her way! Though Iain is generally respectful of other’s wishes, he can see quite clearly see that Anna is struggling to carry the load alone. If he can’t help in an obvious way, Iain has every intention of helping in smaller, less obvious ways. First on the list, scoop the poop 😊

While Anna thinks she’s got the Scot out of her way, she quickly realizes he’s actually working in the background. With every visit to the Games site and office, Anna sees some new thing that’s been completed and can be marked off her to-do list. Though Anna doesn’t want to be indebted to the gorgeous Scot, even she has to admit his help has been invaluable. Sharing the burden isn’t something Anna is used to, but Iain’s style isn’t to bulldoze over her, but to quietly support her, help where he can, and not demand some sort of recognition or compensation for his efforts. In fact, Iain is just about the perfect man. Too bad Anna isn’t in the market for a man . . . . she’s already got enough on her plate.

The Bottom Line: This series is, even at only two books in, shaping up to become one of my favorites! From the setting to the plot to the characters, I am so enjoying this world. Though I sometimes struggle with characters too stubborn for their own good, I did not with Anna because she is a total package and her stubbornness is only one part of her formidable personality. Letting Iain in isn’t easy for Anna, but the more she gets to know him the more she respects and admires him and the way he seems to make her better without squelching any of her own dreams or ambitions. Iain is just delightful on every level, but my favorite quality is his extreme awkwardness around Anna. Iain is competent, capable, assertive, and totally awkward and that made him a wonderfully endearing character. As he and Anna make their way toward one another, he gains confidence with her and shows her how he can undoubtedly be the man she needs. As with the first book, this one has a bit of everything including some humor, some naughty bits, some of the feels, and just a very good story. show less

The Marriage Experiment is the second book in the delightful Laws of Attraction series. We met Adriana briefly in the first book, The Courtship Calculation, and I’m glad we now get to enjoy her full story. Everything Laura Trentham writes is a winner to me, but sometimes the characters and storyline just feel extra special from the beginning and I fall right in love with them. The Marriage Experiment is one of those times. Maybe it’s because Trentham said her inspiration for this book show more was the song "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield. Well who doesn’t love that song and wish the guy on the outside looking in gets the girl?? Whatever it is, Adriana and Dawson captured my heart and held on until THE END.

Adriana is a woman society considers too smart for her own good. What is an amateur lepidopterist, anyway, and why would any young woman want to be one instead of hunting for a husband? She is beautiful, intelligent, full of spirit and fire – and underappreciated and undervalued by society. Even though I understand how it was in Regency times and even though I read many historical romances, I always manage to get myself worked up over the way women were (mis)treated, ignored, forced to enter marriages that were unhappy, unhealthy and often unsafe merely because the men said so and it was for the good of the family, the estate, the whatever. Adriana’s father earned a fair amount of wrath from me when he acquiesced to his wife’s pressure and agreed that Adriana should marry her evil, boorish, loutish, cruel, mean (get the picture?) stepbrother Richard Pace-Verney to “keep her future secure, keep the estate in the family” and blah, blah, blah.

Adriana is of legal age and doesn’t have to agree to marry anyone, but the pressure from her father is intense, and he won’t listen to any criticism of Pace-Verney. She and everyone else always assumed she would marry her neighbor and childhood friend, Cyrus Shaw, once he grew up a bit and decided to settle down. Not a burning love there but they’d always been close and seemed to understand each other. Except things are heating up at home, Cyrus is off in another country gallivanting and getting the most out of life, just like all the other young dandies – and when she sends him an urgent plea to come home at once and marry her to save her from Pace-Verney, Cyrus doesn’t exactly jump on his horse and hurry home.

Fortunately (very, very, very fortunately as it turns out – yes, you can swoon now) for Adriana, Cyrus’s stepbrother Dawson, the new Earl of Westhorpe through the tragic loss of father and older brothers, realizes how upset Adriana is when she asks him to send her letter to Cyrus, and Dawson reads the letter. And from that moment on this story is sweet, sexy, spicy, swoony, spectacular.

Dawson is the ex-soldier, the serious one, the one who never expected to be in charge, the one who doesn’t find it necessary to do the Grand Tour before settling down. And Dawson is also the one who has always truly loved Adriana but would never have dreamt of venturing where he assumed he brother wanted to be, was meant to be. Until Cyrus doesn’t come back to rescue Adriana and it’s clear Evil Richard will stop at nothing to force the marriage and secure that estate.

So . . . Dawson and Adriana are married. He is an Earl, a neighbor, an old family friend, respected. Her father won’t object. But will Cyrus? For that matter, will Adriana? And to what lengths will Richard go to take back what he thinks is rightfully his?

Need I say more? Trentham is a master at words and emotions and scenes and action – and best of all, at romance. Watching Dawson and Adriana circle each other, and then seeing that circle become smaller and smaller and smaller as they were drawn to each other, was heart-stoppingly satisfying. I loved these characters, I loved this story, and I cannot wait for the next book in this wonderful series. Thanks to the author for providing an advance copy of The Marriage Experiment as part of her review crew. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less