Coverlicious: Beauitful Cover Dresses #4 Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Coverlicious is a feature here on my blog where I feature anything and everything to do with covers from covers I love to cover cover lookalikes and cover reveals.

This post is part of a series called Beautiful Cover Dresses, featuring gorgeous dresses on covers that I love! Today's pick is:

Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

I ADORE this book cover- it's just too good to resist! I mean that dress has to be amongst the most gorgeous I've seen on a cover-right? It really is too good to resist if you're a cover lover like me and it looks so pretty on my bookshelf.

That dress is to die for!

I love the design of the dress with the pulled in waist the and the golden flaps opening on to a centre intricately embroidered with moss green floral patterns. It's not brightly coloured and doesn't come across as though it was designed to stand out if worn to a ball but are quite subtle but extremely pretty at the same time. I like the way the photo has been caught in motion as the girl is walking so the dress flaps are flying out and the cream under layers at the bottom are ruffled up so we can see them. It fits in with the fairy tale theme well and looks like a dress that would be easier to dance in then others such as those on the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen covers although I think it would still be a challenge.

Font fit for a Princess

The swirly gold title and author font works really well with it and looks royal even though I think it is used quite commonly. Curly fonts like this one are a favourite feature of mine on covers! I also like the way the title is to the right  and it vertical because as you read it down your attention is drawn to the detail of the dress and it also allows for the dress to be full length.

Mysteriously dark background....

You might wonder why there is such a mysteriously dark and grey background on a fairy tale retelling when fairy tales are usually happy. In this case the charcoal background matches the story perfectly because the Princesses in the book carry a heavy secret and they must go to a dark underground world to dance with the sons of an evil King. I am guessing that the illustration background on this cover is the passage leading to this underground kingdom with cold tiles and carved pillars. This background also helps the dress to stand out because I don't think it would have the same effect on a lighter background.

What are your thoughts on this cover?

Looking for more beautiful cover dresses? Look at previous posts in the series.

#1 #2 #3

Waiting on Wednesday: The Rouge's Princess by Eve Edwards

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme held by Jill at Breaking The Spine where bloggers feature books that are not yet released that they can't wait to get their hands on!

My pick this week:

The Rouge's Princess by Eve Edwards

Goodreads description:

1586– London, England. Sixteen-year-old Mercy Hart is the daughter of one of London’s richest – and strictest – cloth merchants. Kit Turner is an actor and the illegitimate son of the late Earl of Dorset. A chance encounter finds Kit falling for the beautiful Mercy’s charms, but their love is forbidden. A merchant’s daughter and a vagabond – it simply cannot be. If Mercy chooses Kit she must renounce her family name and leave her home. Will she favour duty over true love, or will she give Kit his heart’s desire?

Release Date: 4th July

Why I want to read it:

I absolutely loved the first two books in this Lacey Romance series, The Other Countess and The Queen's Lady (click to see reviews) so I can't wait for the third one to be released to find out what happens next. Kit, the main character of this book was introduced in the Queen's Lady and I'm looking forward to finding out more about Will and James Lacey's (the love interests of the first two books) illegitimate brother and the girl he loves. Bring on more history, romance, swoon worthy heroes and Tudor intrigue.......

I like the blue colour scheme for this book with the pretty swirls but it just looks too much liken adult romance to me and I'm still disappointed that they changed the cover designs for this series.

What are you waiting on?

Book Review: Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Who can resist a cover like that?

Goodreads description

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.
 
My Review
 
Rose and her eleven sisters are doomed to dance every night for the evil scheming  King Under Stone and his sons, the Princes because of a binding bargain that their deceased mother made years ago. Despairing, the King promises one of his daughter's in marriage to the Prince who can find out why the Princess's dancing shoes are mysteriously worn out every night and how they end up so exhausted. The gallant young soldier Galen returned from war who has taken a position as under-gardener soon learns of this when he befriends the Princesses and decides he must do everything in his power to reveal the secret and save the Princesses.  
 
I read this book at the right time because a fairy tale retelling like this one is a perfect Easter holiday read! I loved the 15th century Germanic like country in the aftermath of war that the book was set in and the dark world of the Under Stone that the Princesses must travel to but my favourite aspect of the book was the characters. The story is told from the third person perspectives of the two main characters Galen and the eldest Princess Rose and each of them were easy to root for. Galen was everything that you'd expect of a worthy fairy tale hero: dashingly romantic, noble, considerate (don't forget that he likes to knit!) and courageous whilst Rose was the perfect heroine in distress: beautiful, kind and loving to her sisters but with an unspeakable burden on her shoulders. However, each of the other eleven Princess had distinguishable personality traits too, which worked really well but a week after reading the book, their names have blended into  a confusing tangle as they were all named after flowers.

I wasn't really familiar with the original fairy tale before I read this book so but I looked it up afterwards and Jessica Day George has really made it into her own story with lots of twists and turns and explanations that were omitted in the original that help the story to make more sense. For example she has invented a reason for the Princesses to dance every night, which makes the plot a lot more exciting!

Jessica Day George's writing is simple but beautiful at the same time and makes for a light but well written read. So even though the plot is predictable, the story is still a delight to read that kept me turning the pages. I will definitely be checking out the 'sequel' Princess Of Glass, a Cinderella retelling using one of the Princessses from this book.

Quick read: Princess Of The Midnight Ball has everything needed an enchanting escape whilst basking in the spring sunshine from a handsome and brave hero, a beautiful and kind Princess heroine to a magical world and true love. Pick up this for a quick treat- after all, everyone needs a little bit of happily ever after once in a while!

Rating: 4 stars

Daily Dose (2)

Daily Dose is held by Good Golly Miss Holly. All images lovingly found on We Heart It!

The photo used for the cover of Entwined by Heather Dixon! <3

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you're all enjoying this special holiday weekend whether you're celebrating Christ's resurrection, eating lots of chocolate (mmmmmm), or both- like me! Have fun spending time with your family and hopefully some reading too....

In My Mailbox- The Birthday Edition!

In My Mailbox is a meme held by the lovely Kristi at The Story Siren, which encourages bloggers to share what books have made it into their house each week.

This week was the best book week EVER... because it was my birthday yesterday and I got some awesome bookish presents! Note: I won't be including descriptions this week because my Internet is being really slow at the moment.

What I got:

                                              A Kindle!

I had been toying up getting a Kindle for a while because I always thought that I'd be completely loyal to print books and never buy an e-reader but curiosity, the good things I've been hearing about Kindle and the lure of sites like Net Galley got the better of me. I'm so glad that they did! I've spent all afternoon reading on it and downloading all the free classics and I'm starting to love it. Though, it's just an accompaniment to my reading because my Kindle could *never* replace my physical books... it's a totally different reading experience! I'm planning to do a post with my thoughts on it soon :)

Books (thank you you to my parents):

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Daughter Of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang

Waterfall by Lisa T Bergen

Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend by Cora Harrison

These were all on my birthday wishlist so I'm really happy and can't wait to read them! You can have a look at why I want to read these books on my wishlist post. The cover of Entwined is even more beautiful in person :)

Kindle books I downloaded:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Little Women by Louise May Alcott

For review: 

 

Jane Austen- A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef (thanks to Net Galley)

The Betrayal Of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird (thanks to Net Galley)

What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

Goodreads description

Anastasia Romanov, life as the privileged daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the bloodshed of revolution. Ousted from the imperial palace when the Bolsheviks seize control of the government, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia. But even while the rebels debate the family's future with agonizing slowness and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blooms between Anastasia and Sasha, a sympathetic young guard she has known since childhood. But will the strength of their love be enough to save Anastasia from a violent death?

Review

Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the last days of the Romanov family, Susanne Dunlap's new novel is a haunting vision of the life-and love story-of Russia's last princess.Anastasia’s Secret tells the tragic story of Russia’s last Grand Duchess through Anastasia’s eyes during her teenage years and the fall of the Imperial family. Anastasia and her sisters are used to luxury as the daughters of the Tsar but when World War One breaks out, the life that they have known begins to change beyond imagination...

Susanne Dunlap did a wonderful job of turning Anastasia from a figure in a history book to a lifelike teenage girl with the same emotions, hopes, aspirations and thoughts as other girls her age. I really liked how Anastasia felt that she was still being treated as the ‘baby’ of the family could be counted on to make everyone laugh when she was really growing into a intelligent young lady just like her sisters and needed to be thought of as that. This added a depth to her character that made her seem more lifelike to me and was key in the development of her character. I also loved the imagined secret romance with Sasha that was bought into the story because it was the perfect side plot to the story and was a distraction from Anastasia’s increasingly bleak and controlled life whilst also giving her the chance to grow up and experience love for the first time. Their relationship was complicated and it was often hard to tell what Sasha thought of Anastasia but it added an exciting and romantic element to the book to provide a distinction to other sad events. Sasha wasn’t my favourite of heroes and I felt there was something lacking about his character but nevertheless, it didn’t impact my enjoyment too much. Their relationship was also used as a useful window for learning more about the world of Russia outside the Palace walls, which Anastasia would otherwise have been unaware of. I found learning more about the country at the time very interesting and I’m glad this was added in.

I really liked how close Anastasia was to her sisters and younger brother. I particularly liked her relationship with her sister Marie (known as Mashka), who she shares a bedroom with Anastasia and I would have liked to have known what her character was thinking. As secondary characters, her sisters were very well developed and this is unusual in books with quite a large cast of characters but was key to this story because it helped me to care more about their fate. The Romanov family as a whole had a close and warm bond that I wouldn’t have imagined in such an important family when their father is busy with ruling the country. Even at the hardest times, they stayed faithful to each other and this is something to be admired.

It is clear that Susanne Dunlap spent a lot of time researching meticulously for Anastasia’s life is described in detail from servants to pets and as far as I know, these details are accurate. I learnt so much but it didn’t feel like it was overloaded in detail at all because everything was woven in a natural way into a rich tapestry. At the front of the book, there was a really helpful glossary of the characters names in the books explaining the Russian way of naming family members and their customs. I found myself using this throughout the book to make clear the sometimes confusing Russian names. This in depth look and intricate at the Romanov household and the story of the Romanov family fascinated me and made me want to learn more about them after I’d finished the book.

The inevitable ending of the story was well written and I was satisfied with it at first but another part of me would have liked to have seen it carried on further than the point it got up to just out of curiosity. Susanne Dunlap partly did this in the detailed epilogue explaining what happened afterwards with her musings about writing about such a talked about historical figure in the first person but it didn’t have the same effect as it would have been seeing it through Anastasia’s eyes. Though I have to admit that the story didn’t need this for the story is left on a note of insecure hope and the reader is left to imagine what Anastasia went through after that.

Anastasia’s Secret is a intriguing book that brings Anastasia Romanov’s teenage years to life blending fact with fiction to create an inevitably devastating and tragic story but also one brimming with romance and hope. The only thing that brings my rating down to 4.5 is that sometimes I found some parts of the bit lengthy and unnecessary.

Rating: 4.5 stars

My Birthday Wishlist!

It's my birthday on Saturday so I thought I'd share some of the books that are on my wishlist for then  (descriptions from Goodreads):

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest. But there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

I featured this one on a Waiting on Wednesday post last year so I've been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I love fairy tale retellings and I just read another retelling of the same fairytale as Entwined called The Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. And that cover is gorgeous- it would look so pretty on my bookshelf!

Daughter Of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang

Athletiand strong willed, Princess Emmajin's determined to do what no woman has done before: become a warrior in the army of her grandfather, the Great Khan Khubilai. In the Mongol world the only way to achieve respect is to show bravery and win glory on the battlefield. The last thing she wants is the distraction of the foreigner Marco Polo, who challenges her beliefs in the gardens of Xanadu. Marco has no skills in the "manly arts" of the Mongols: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Still, he charms the Khan with his wit and story-telling. Emmajin sees a different Marco as they travel across 13th-century China, hunting 'dragons' and fighting elephant-back warriors. Now she faces a different battle as she struggles with her attraction towards Marco and her incredible goal of winning fame as a soldier.

Dori came on the blog to do a guest post a few months ago so really want to finally be able to read her book! I love the sound of the setting of Daughter Of Xandu because it's unusual and different from many Tudor and Victorian set YA historicals.

Waterfall by Lisa T.Bergen

I've been wanting to read this ever since I read a glowing review over at Small Review because I've been meaning to read more time travels and this one sounds fantastic!

Lisa Tawn Bergren's new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn't have to fear a vampire's bite but must still fight for her life.

In Waterfall, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the fourteenth-century—and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.
 

Emily And The Scot by Kathryn Smith

Jamie MacLaughlin knows his place in the world and he's happy there. His dreams are simple and obtainable. But when he crosses paths with an impertinent English lass, his reaction to her is anything but simple. Emily Fitzgerald left England to avoid scandal. All she wants is a little peace and perhaps a little adventure in Scotland. She never imagined she'd meet a man who makes her want to go against everything she's ever been taught.

Thia regency romance for teens is a sequel to Anna And The The Duke, which I read last year and really enjoyed.

Princess Of Glass by Jessica Day George

Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program, whereby young princes and princesses travel to each other's countries in the name of better political alliances—and potential marriages. It's got the makings of a fairy tale—until a hapless servant named Eleanor is tricked by a vengeful fairy godmother into competing with Poppy for the eligible prince. Ballgowns, cinders, and enchanted glass slippers fly in this romantic and action-packed happily-ever-after quest from an author with a flair for embroidering tales in her own delightful way.

This is the sequel to Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George that I read last week and carries on the story of one of the characters from there. I really liked the first book so I'm looking forward to continuing the story of one of the Princesses sometime soon.

I'll be sharing the books I got for my birthday in this Sunday's In My Mailbox!



Book Review: Sigrun's Secret by Marie Louise Jensen

Goodreads description

'Their garments are black as night. They carry torches in their hands, darkness and anger in their hearts. They are coming.'

When a dark family secret is exposed, Sigrun's peaceful life is shattered. Forced to pay for her parents' misdeeds, she finds herself exiled from all she knows - and from the boy she loves - for three long years. Yet more secrets lie ahead; not least the power Sigrun finds awakening in herself, seemingly passed to her from a mysterious amulet. Can she use her new-found gift to save herself and those around her from the dangers they face? And will true love wait until her return?

My review

Sigrun's Secret was everything that I expected it to be and more and stepping back into Marie Louise Jensen's writing whilst sunbathing in the garden was like eating my favourite chocolate-a real treat! Sigrun's Secret is the loose sequel to Daughter Of Fire and Ice (click link to see my review) and tells the story of the MC of the first book's daughter Sigrun as she is exiled from the only world she has ever known and discovers the truth about who her family really are.

I connected with the MC Sigrun just as much as her mother Thora and from the opening chapter, where Sigrun riding a runaway and unbroken horse, because I was instantly hoping that the horse would stop before they reached the edge of the cliff. Sigrun feels that she is forever in the shadow of her mother for it is her great sadness that she has not inherited the gift of her mothers visions or her talent as a healer but she is similar to her in more ways than she thinks for she proves her courage and love in her own way. Throughout these doubts about herself, the trials of young love and the challenges of leaving her home to live in a unknown city where everything is strange and unfamiliar to her, I was able to relate to Sigrun really well. This was because of the way Marie Louise Jensen built up a consistent voice for her character that kept me in the heart of the action. Also, I really enjoyed seeing her develop from a naive young girl who has some insecurities in herself into a confident, honourable and thoughtful young women.

One of my favourite aspect of this book was Sigrun's relationship with her childhood friend Ingvar. When her father, brother and Ingvar come back from a year long trip, Ingvar seems changed and Sigrun develops feelings for him that she never knew she possessed. Just as their romance seems to begin blossoming, they are separated from each other and must live with the prospect of not seeing each other for three years-can their love last that long? Their romance was really sweet and it added a lot to my enjoyment of the story. Oh, and did I mention how handsome Ingvar was?

The secondary characters such as Sigrun's parents Bjorn and Thora, her mute friend Maria and Leif, the son of their host Thrang in Jorvik were all well written too and I cared about what happened to them too. I  particularly liked finding out what happened to Bjorn and Thora after their struggle to be together in the first book.

As in Daughter Of Fire and Ice, the Icelandic setting was excellently described from the lush bay where Sigrun has grown up to the sights and smells of the bustling city of Jorvik. I found learning a bit of Norse myths and legends and the way of life back then from the slave trade to the different medicines that healers like Sigrun used really interesting.

Verdict: Sigrun's Secret is an adventurous and emotional coming of age story complete with the trials of young love, loyalty and bravery set against the vivid backdrop of Iceland and the Norse city of Jorvik. I loved it because it was excellently written with lots of twists and turns in the plot and a lifelike heroine. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something fresh and new in the YA historical fiction genre. Marie Louise Jensen is one of my favourite authors but she is not very well known at the moment and I hope that will change in the future!

Rating: 5 stars

You do not have to have read Daughter of Fire and Ice to enjoy this sequel but keep in mind that if you like this book, then you will know the ending of DOFAI if you decide to read it after.

Daily Dose (1)

Daily Dose is a weekly meme hosted by Good Golly Miss Holly where we post images that we find inspirational or magical. I found the amazing image site We Heart It last week and have found some really cute pictures so I thought I'd share them with you as something a little different from my usual bookish posts. I might deicde to participate more regularly because I love finding pretty and creative photos!  I hope you like them :)

Stephanie <3

A Cornucopia Of Dystopia: Lauren Oliver Scavenger Hunt Interview

Today is the finale of A Cornucopia Of Dystopia event held by Casey at The Bookish Type and Danya at A Tapestry Of Words and to have some fun on the last day we're doing a scavenger hunt interview with Lauren Oliver, the bestselling author of Before I Fall new dystopian Delirium. The interview is spread across eight blogs, each linking to the next in the chain. You'll have to follow the link trail to see the interview in its entirety!

Here's my question for Lauren:

What was your absolute favourite aspect of writing and researching Delirium?

I loved spending time in Portland, Maine, and getting to know the city and the feel of the place. It felt very exotic to me—not necessarily because it is exotic, but because it was a huge moment where I suddenly realized, “I’m a writer—this is my job—to go places and listen to people.” And of course I had so much fun playing with the idea of love as a disease, and more importantly, writing about the fears and anxieties that love can provoke. It’s funny; I really have lived through times when I would have gladly taken the cure. And when I meet people who haven’t, and can’t understand it, there’s a disconnect to me. I feel like: wait, haven’t you ever had you heart broken? Haven’t you ever felt like you’d been smashed into bits by someone else? So I liked exploring that.

Thank you so much for answering my question Lauren! I hadn't read Delirium at the time I wrote the question but I have now and I absolutely loved it (you can find my review here). It had me thinking about whether I would take the cure and it must have been interesting pondering that whilst you were writing. The concept is challenging but I imagine you had fun coming up with and creating Delirium's dystopian world. You can really tell from the detail about the setting in Delirium that you've spent a lot of time there researching and it adds an extra dimension to the book. I would love to be just to go and visit places to 'people watch' and look around- all the more reason for trying to become an author....

The next question of the scavenger hunt interview can be found over at

 Supernatural Snark

so don't forget to pop on over there and keep reading the rest of the interview! Enjoy :D

Finally, (I know I've said it before in my interview with Katie Kcvinsky) but I want to say another huge thank you to Casey and Danya for putting so much hard work into organising this wonderful event to celebrate new dystopian releases and making it a success. It's been a privilege to take part and a lot of fun. I hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as I have whether you're a reader or a blogger taking part in the event!



In My Mailbox 17/4/11

In My Mailbox is a meme held by the lovely Kristi at The Story Siren that encourages bloggers to share all the new books that have made it into their houses this week. All descriptions and links are from/go to Goodreads.

My New Books:

I visisted my amazing local second hand bookshop (yay!) this week so it was a good book week for me!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

I recently read The Bride's Farewell by the same author and I didn't really enjoy it all that much so you may be asking... why get another of her books? Well, I saw on Goodreads that a lot of reviews for The Bride's Fareqell said they were disappointed because How I Live Now was a lot better. Also, Meg Rosoff's writing was beauitful at times even if I didnt like The Bride's Farewell overall. It's a good quality hardback at a very cheap price so I thought I'd give Meg Rosoff another try....

Saskia's Jounrey by Theresa Breslin

Saskia Granton is intrigued by an invitation to visit her mysterious great-aunt Alessandra up on the Scottish coast. It's a chance to rediscover her lifelong love of the sea, but Saskia also slowly realizes how little she really knows about her roots.

I read this sometime last year when I got it out from the library and quite liked it so I couldn't resist buying it. I love having copies of books I've read to remind me of them every time I look at my bookshelf!

Cuckoo In The Nest by Michelle Magorian

 As an evacuee, Ralph received a good education, but after the war Ralph's working-class father resents his education and his ambition to be an actor, and is furious when Ralph is sacked from the paper mill. The story traces Ralph's struggle to reconcile the disparate strands of his life.

I've read this one too and although I'd like to re-read it sometime. I actually bought it for my 11 year old brother. He's already used up the amount of money he was allowed to spend and he loved Michelle Magorian's Good Mr Tom (we recently went to see a fantastic play version of it at the threatre recently) so I thought he would enjoy this one too.

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

One of readers', librarians' and booksellers' most frequently requested Heyers, The Foundling features Gilly, the seventh Duke of Sale.

A diffident young man of 24 years, easily pushed around by his overprotective uncle and the retinue of devoted family retainers who won't let him lift a finger for himself, the Duke sometimes wishes he could be a commoner. One day he decides to set out to discover whether he is "a man, or only a Duke."   Beginning with an incognito journey into the countryside to confront a blackmailer, he encounters a runaway school boy, a beautiful but airheaded orphan, one of literature's most appealing and well-spoken comic villains, and a series of alarming and even life threatening events from which he can extricate himself only with the help of his shy and lovely fiance.

Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

Renowned gamester and the first to admit that he is entirely devoid of a romantic disposition, Max Ravenscar regards all eligible females with indifference and unconcern. But when he meets the woman his young cousin Adrian is bent on marrying- the beautiful Deborah Grantham, Mistress of his aunt's gaming house- he fins that none of his experience in risk and gambling had prepared him for such a worthy opponent.

I bought both of these just before I left the shop when I went to return a book that I decided not to buy in the end and discovered them there. It was only when I went home that I really looked at the descriptions properly because I was just excited to be able to get my hands on some Heyer books.

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Stephanie <3