Kathryn Smith (1)

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Introduction
In Your Arms Again was such a wonderful diversion of a read and honestly I do think that Kathryn Smith is so charming to read. If you are looking for endearing, fun, and adventurous, then you definitely need to pick this series up here. This was also another pick for my Romanceopoly reading challenge. I have been behind on it and working on catching up on it. In this one, it was the prompt for "Courtship show more Row" which is any book with a clinch cover and I would say that this cover makes the perfect clinch. I had such a fun sweet time reading this one, and it was so low angst in some ways, and higher angst in others as well. It also had the type of love triangle that I actually enjoy and had a HEA for all parties involved. If you want to get away from those modern historical's, then I would recommend this one, it was just FUN reading it and easy to relax into.

Summary
The setup of the story, is that our hero, North, is a Bow Street Runner, and has made his services to the Ton for quite some time in being able to solve mysteries and bring justice to those harming those in the upper classes. But he has kept himself apart from the one woman he has always loved but is determined to let her live her life as she deserves. Octavia made a promise to her grandfather before he died that she would marry the man that he wanted her to be with and so now she is engaged. Even though she doesn't love him, there is a level of respect or cordial affection between them. When there are letters arriving to her home, her fiancee hires North to get to the bottom of it just in case her life ends up in danger. As Octavia and North work together, their friendship and more builds between them. But there are vows that were made and now they will need to determine if their love is worth fighting for or resign themselves to letting each other go for duty and past promises...

My Outlook
In Your Arms Again was such a delightful read. I actually found myself so endeared by this story. I was easily drawn into it. Now I will say that the middle sometimes would move a bit slow, but overall the story itself had steady pacing. I really fell hard for North and Octavia. This was such a sweet romance. And no I don't mean closed door, not at all, it has some decent steam to it, although its light in comparison to what many authors write today. There is such a sense of adventure to this story that I really enjoyed. This aspect is what I feel is missing in modern historical's these days. Kathryn Smith really delivered on building such an entertaining plot. I absolutely adored the friends to lovers trope in this one. You see how much they care for each other but haven't had a true chance to see what they can be together without family interference and now they are free to explore what could have been and it was so precious to see this grow between them. I honestly didn't understand though their need to not be together ...together. Like other than North's brothers, their family's are mostly gone and those that didn't want them to be together aren't around, so I felt a bit frustrated at times with how stubborn they both were in this regard. But the ending was satisfying and left me with a smile on my face!

Overall View
In Your Arms Again is a satisfying, witty, well penned historical that will deliver the heart and adventure any historical romance lover is seeking...

Rating Evaluation:
Plot: 4
World Building: 4
Cover:5
Hero: 4
Heroine: 4
Steam: 3
Heart & Feels: 4
Ending:5
Overall View: 4 show less

This is a charming and well-written Regency romance. I really enjoyed the depiction of Gabriel and Lilith's relationship (and let's have it for symbolic names, huh?). Smith explores the effects of a love gone sour through perceived mutual betrayal with tender deftness. It's a story of a second-chance done extremely well.

Let the Night Begin
4.5 Stars

The story of the Brotherhood of Blood continues with Reign and his estranged wife, Olivia Gavin. When Olivia's nephew is abducted, she is forced to put aside her anger for Reign and seek his help as the kidnappers are demanding a ransom that only he can provide. Reign is only too eager to have his wayward bride return, but conditions his assistance on Olivia's willingness to share his bed once more. Can these two former lovers rekindle the passion that brought show more them together or will they kill each other before their enemies can do it for them?

A significant improvement on the previous installment.

Reign and Olivia have incredible chemistry and their love/hate relationship is intense and satisfying. While the keeping secrets trope usually annoys me no end, Smith manages to avoid all of its pitfalls as Olivia's reasons for withholding information makes sense within the narrative, and Reign is well aware that his beloved is not revealing the entire truth.

The ongoing story arc involving the Order of the Silver Palm takes an interesting turn, and I am eager to see how it all turns out in the last book. show less

Night of the Huntress
4 Stars

After a hiatus of several years, I have finally gotten around to reading the second book in the series and am angry with myself for putting it off for so long.

Kathryn Smith's Brotherhood of Blood series is a shining example of the best of the paranormal romance genre. The backstory involving a group of warriors in search of the Holy Grail, who inadvertently stumble across the Blood Grail and find themselves turned into vampires, is unique and compelling.

This show more second installment focuses on the warrior known as Bishop and Marika, a dhampir (vampire-human hybrid), who has made it her mission in life to eradicate the creatures she views as evil. Hired by a mysterious group to capture Bishop, Marika finds herself inexplicably drawn to the enigmatic yet strangely "human" vampire, and begins to question her preconceived notions. Their love-hate relationship is very appealing and their chemistry sizzles.

The ongoing arc concerning the Order of the Silver Plam and their quest to obtain the Blood Grail continues, and it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Overall, an excellent read, and I will not be putting off the rest of the series. show less