Book #Review: Ten Reasons to Stay by Sabrina Jeffries

This is satisfying for a quick, sensual romance. 
Ten Reasons to Stay
by Sabrina Jeffries

• File Size: 559 KB
• Publisher: Pocket Star (May 6, 2013)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B009UVL9L4

Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: May 6, 2013
A delightful eNovella from New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries about a young woman who learns that you can’t learn about love from a textbook.
In “Ten Reasons to Stay,” previously published in the anthology The School for Heiresses, lessons go far beyond etiquette and needlepoint. Eliza Crenshawe’s lesson is to look before she leaps. But when she discovers that her new guardian plans to marry her off without so much as a Season, she forgets all that. She flees—on a horse she unwittingly steals (oops!)—from Colin Hunt, a newly minted earl who wants nothing more than for her to go home…or stay forever.

Review:
I have enjoyed many novels by Ms. Jeffries and this one joins the group. It manages a full romance, albeit almost love at first sight, in a short novella.

Eliza has finished most of her lessons at The School for Heiresses. The school didn’t teach lessons on love and she never mastered how to look before leaping. Her father has died and her drunken uncle has become her guardian. Uncle Silas claims that her father left only debts and there is no inheritance. He has whisked Eliza away from town and announced that he has arranged for her to be married immediately.

Eliza dresses like a lad and sneaks off to a neighboring estate to “borrow” a horse. She gets caught by the new lord who has recently returned from India. Colin isn’t very trusting of women since many shun his mixed, Indian and English, blood and his first wife was flighty and untrustworthy.  He doesn’t believe this thieving young imposter even when he finally drags from her a Gothic tale of threatened marriage and missing inheritance. She continues to refuse to tell him her name or let him take her to the magistrate.  Colin locks her in his bedroom while he tries to discover her identity and the truth of her circumstances. Eliza discovers an interesting collection of erotic art while rummaging in his boxes and a provocative bargaining begins.

I appreciated the dialogue between these two cautious individuals. Eliza seeks a life of passion and doesn’t want to be trapped in a loveless marriage. She is afraid that Colin will return her home to that fate. Colin thinks he just wants peace and not a lively, inquisitive woman. The  romance was a bit bold for my tastes but the story was more than just an excuse for virgin introduction into sexual exploration. (I'm curious to pull my copy of the anthology to see if there was any change since the earlier publication.)  I enjoyed the characters and the plot worked well. Ms. Jeffries succeeded in creating a satisfying, entertaining read in a shorter story.

I received this title for an honest review through NetGalley.

Winner of Hellion in Her Bed by Sabrina Jeffries

CONGRATULATIONS

to the Winner of 

A Hellion in Her Bed (Hellions of Halstead Hall)

plus deck of cards and some swag!

 

I will email lucky Johanna to please send me her snail mail address.
Thank you everyone who entered. There were fun comments.

Thank you again to Nancy Berland PR for making the giveaway possible.

Review and ARC Giveaway - A Hellion in Her Bed by Sabrina Jeffries

The fast, easy flow of this character driven story make it a sure fire bet to please!A Hellion in Her Bed (Hellions of Halstead Hall) by Sabrina Jeffries.

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star; Original edition (September 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439167540
• ISBN-13: 978-1439167540

Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating: 4.75 of 5.0

Product Description
Furious at his grandmother’s ultimatum to marry or lose his inheritance, Lord Jarret Sharpe wagers his luck—and his heart—at the card table against a most unlikely opponent.Mired in scandal after his parents’ mysterious deaths, notorious gambler Lord Jarret Sharpe agrees to tamely run the family brewery for a year if his Machiavellian grandmother rescinds her ultimatum that he marry. But the gambler in him can’t resist when beguiling Annabel Lake proposes a wager. If she wins their card game, he must help save her family’s foundering brewery. But if he wins, she must spend a night in his bed. The outcome sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy all his plans . . . and unveils the secret Annabel has held for so long. When Jarret discovers the darker reason behind her wager, he forces her into another one—and this time he intends to win not just her body, but her heart.

Review: I was drawn into this historical romance and swept right along to the end.

Jarret is clearly tortured and withdrawn as the result of the accidental shooting and suicide deaths of his parents when he was just a boy. He loved working at the brewery business with his grandparents when he was thirteen. Then he was sent off to school where he was sneered at and taunted by the bigger boys. Now he is not willing to get close or care about anyone or anything, even the brewery he once loved.  If he doesn’t care then he can’t be hurt if it is taken away from him.  He lives the carefree, reckless lifestyle of a gambler, never committing to relationships or work.

Jarret makes a deal with his Grandmother while she is recuperating from illness. He will manage the family brewery for one year if she removes her ultimatum that he wed within a year.  No one is sure if he can really do the job and he isn’t sure how much of a commitment he wants to make as his Grandmother could take it back from him.  Even though he seems to be a scoundrel, Jarret has a warm heart hidden behind his mask of indifference.

Annabel is the type of historical heroine I really like. She is intelligent, determined and loyal. She is running her family’s brewery business in the absence of her brother although she is not well accepted as a woman in the industry.  But she will do what it takes to save the family business, even if that includes seeking the help of a competitor.  Of course she thought she would be dealing with another woman brewster, not the rogue gambling grandson.

Annabel approaches Jarrett with an interesting proposition - business that is. When he doesn’t take her serious she challenges him to his favorite pastime: a game of cards. He ups the stakes when he makes the bet very personal.  Now with a turn of the cards they are off to a match of wits and luck.

Jarret brings out a passion that Annabel has successfully suppressed for many years. She has lived her life expecting to remain a spinster. There are secrets she needs to keep hidden and that Jarrett wants to uncover. But if he finds out some of those secrets, all bets are going to be off.

I really liked these two characters and the unusual plot.  The dialog was fast with a good deal of warmth and underlying humor. There are some questions still open at the end of the book but that is part of the series and I will be happy to read more of this series and Sabrina Jeffries anytime as I can always count on a satisfying read.

Thank you to Nancy Berland PR who provided the ARC and the pack of A Hellion in Her Bed playing cards for a giveaway with the book!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE ARC and Playing Cards:

1. Visit the author's website and tell me something fun that you found there.  Good for One Entry.
See if you can find William Shakespeare. :) 
Alternative comment:  Comment on the review or tell me if you have every toured a brewery. Good for One Entry.
Please leave your e-mail!

2. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For another entry, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Four total entries possible.)
It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is open to US and Canada only.
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on October 22, 2010. The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.

A Thanks to Jeanne at Nancy Berland Public Relations

I am very pleased to be working with Jeanne at Nancy Berland Public Relations, Inc. to review some books! I met Jeanne at the RWA Bookfair in Orlando the end of May. She was sitting with Deidre Knight when I went to introduce myself! I had won Red Fire, the first of Deidre's Spartan Series, by taking "Ajax" on a transatlantic trip flying to Spain and cruising back on an Holland American Lines ship! My 4.5 review of Red Fire is posted here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CUKC8RLB5R1H/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Well- I wasn't going to post any pictures of me but Jeanne took one of Deidre and me so --- here it is:

Martha and Deidre Knight at RWA Bookfair May 2009

********************

A month or so ago Jeanne sent me Don't Bargain with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries which is the 5th in the Heiresses series. I love series! I read book 1 which was recently re-released and the Need to Read and Gotta Read reviews for those books are here: http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/Sabrina%20Jeffries

I have books 2 and 3 on my TBR shelf and I will have to pick up 4. But now I really want to get book 6, Wed Him Before You Bed Him, where Cousin Michael is revealed!

I am excited because Jeanne has sent me some more new books to read and review! I'll post about those soon! Thanks so much for fun reading Jeanne and Nancy Berland PR!