Commitment by Margaret Ethridge

Tom and Maggie's book


Commitment

By Margaret Ethridge

Book Blurb:
Tom Sullivan wants a woman who is willing to accept him as he is. The successful divorce attorney has seen enough of the flip side of love to know better than to promise forever. Women have tried to pin him down, but none have managed to make it stick. 

Until Maggie McCann. 

Maggie is only interested in one thing. Her fortieth birthday is looming and the tick-tock-tick-tock in her head means her biological clock is about to strike midnight on her dreams of finding Prince Charming. Armed with a new plan for her happily ever, she foregoes the Fairy Godmother routine and makes an appointment with a fertility clinic for a rendezvous with a sperm donor. 

The last thing Maggie needs is to get mixed up with a player like Tom Sullivan. 

A chance encounter and the opportunity to scratch a decade-long itch prove irresistible, and what starts as a one-night stand turns into a game of cat and mouse when Tom learns of Maggie’s plan to start a family on her own. 

To Maggie, messing with a guy like Tom Sullivan is the single-girl equivalent of playing with fire, but she convinces herself to take what she can get for as long as she can and expect nothing more. But Tom falls hard and fast for Maggie, and now that they’re planning to have a baby together he starts banking on his own a happily ever after. 

If only he can get her to commit… 


We first meet Tom and Maggie in Margaret Ethridge's first book in the series, Contentment. (which I LOVED) They were both secondary characters in Contentment but not a couple at all. You don't have to read Contentment before reading  Commitment as it can be read as a stand alone. (but you'd be denying yourself an awesome read) 

I will admit that I am not a fan of pregnancy stories and I also don't think every romance needs to end with a baby. Commitment is so much more than a pregnancy story which the cover will lead you to believe. (Although the cover is pretty cute)

I like to compare Maggie to Annette Bening in the sense that she landed the whale, Tom. Tom the forever playboy is the sexy attorney that seems to have a collection furnishings from previous relationships scattered around his home. I love to read about alpha male protagonists like Tom. They are normally so calm, cool and collected yet when they meet a strong woman like Maggie, they don't know what hit them or how to act. All of sudden after years of being in the drivers seat, they are on a new unfamiliar terrain. Love love love it. Tom's never felt the need or impulse to pick up the phone and call a woman. Oh the power Maggie welds and she doesn't even know it. Here's a quote from Tom,

"I want to see you. I want to spend time with you. I like talking to you, that is, when we're not bickering."
(LOL smooth Tom real smooth)

Maggie is another great protagonist and an inspiration for women. She has enjoyed the majority of her life, owns a business that she is passionate about and now wants to take the next step in her life by having a baby. The darn biological clock is ticking away as she nears her 40th birthday. Of course the problem is that she doesn't have a dad in mind or is currently dating anyone. I just adore Maggie. I want Maggie as a friend. I know that I have really connected with a character when I wish I could just pick up the phone and make plans to hang out. 

Commitment is a great title because it plays on a double entendre on so many levels. There is the obvious commitment of a relationship and to have a baby but there is more. Tom and Maggie don't start out as a couple and there are various other commitments made along the journey to get there. 

Teasers: granny pants sexy scene, Fred the cat (loved Fred!), Tom's high maintenance mother, Maggie giving Tom a facial

The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae by Stephanie Laurens

Dominic, Earl of Glencrae and Lady Angelica Cynster






The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae

By Stephanie Laurens

Book Blurb:
Three heros, three rescues, three weddings.

We joyfully request your attendance at the wedding of Miss Angelica Cynster
...but not until she and her hero confront a devious enemy and lay to rest an ancient grudge in the Scottish Highlands!

Headstrong Angelica Cynster is certain she'll recognize her fated husband at first sight. And when her eyes meet those of a mysterious nobleman across a candlelit ballroom, she knows beyond doubt that he's the one. But her heart is soon pounding for an entirely different reason--when he hero abducts her!

The eighth Earl of Glencrae has no choice but to kidnap Angelica, the one Cynster sister with whom he hadn't wanted to tangle. But to save his castle and his clan, he must persuade her to assist him--and he's prepared to offer marriage to seal the deal. 

Without a doubt, The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae is my favourite of the trilogy. I just loved it. 

Angelica is my most favourite type of regency heroine. She is smart,  (really smart in a manipulative way), patient, knows what she wants and then just simply goes after it. 
There is this one scene where she once again uses her manipulative charm and gets her way by having Dominic purchase her a horse of her choice.  Now bear in mind that Dominic is an extremely smart business man and he knows how to effectively read people. He is after-all the laird and leader of a clan in Scotland. He barters and buys the spirited filly and then is pretty much dumbfounded on how that all came to be. I totally loved that  Angelica smiles into his eyes and says, "Don't worry. You'll get used to it." Well I burst out laughing. I adored her from page one. 

Look past the heroine on the cover art. This picture is so maddening to me.  Angelica is a fiery red head and not the least bit demure as the cover art portrays. At least she does wear a gold gown at one time for dinner but barely not worth mentioning. It would have been a perfect picture to have her reading The History of Scotland book (or just a book) on the cover, or wearing a green riding habit while riding a black horse or even in her disguise a male youth but this cover does not do the book justice. How hard would it have been to at least get the hair colour correct? A huge pet peeve of mine. 

The drawing to the end of this trilogy answered all of the outstanding questions that were raised through each of the pervious books. The reason for the kidnappings and the importance of the goblet all come to a perfect close. I loved the chase, the build up and the ending made my heart beat fast. I especially loved that when  Angelica runs past her brothers and cousins in pursuit of a murderer and calls them all "idiots".  Angelica brought more smiles to my face than I expected. 

Angelica and Dominic's love scenes were fabulous and so far, The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae is going on my "2012 Best Of" list for best deflowering scene. Stellar!

Do not read The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae as a stand alone or you will be lost. Each book is meant to be read in order. 

Teasers:  Angelica the master manipulator, riding by mail coach across England, hidden castle stairwell, "Just lay back and think of England"

In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster by Stephanie Laurens

Jeremy Carling and Elizabeth Cynster's book






In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster (The Cynster Sister's Trilogy book 2)

By Stephanie Laurens

Book Blurb:

The pleasure of your company is requested at the wedding of Miss Eliza Cynster . . . but not until she’s rescued from a daring abduction by the most unexpected of heroes!

Brazenly kidnapped from her sister Heather’s engagement ball, Eliza Cynster is spirited north to Edinburgh. Desperate and determined to escape, she seizes upon the first possible champion who happens along— gentleman scholar Jeremy Carling.

Villains and rescues are a far cry from Jeremy’s expertise, yet he cannot abandon a damsel in distress. But danger lurks and hurdles abound in their race to escape the mysterious laird, until a final confrontation on a windswept cliff reveals what their future life could hold— if both are bold enough to capture and own the unexpected love they now share.

Fan of beta heroes? Then In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster is for you. I certainly do not intend for that comment to be a bad thing at all. There are times where is it just nice to read about a hero that is smart and well, just a man. No bulging muscles or alpha attitude. I liked it. 

Comparing book 1, Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue against In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster is fairly easy for me. I liked the romance in book 1 more but I really enjoyed the actual pursuit and chase in book 2 better. I was very pleased that book 2 was not the exact same story as the previous. Yes the kidnapping plot was the same but the how, what, where was different. I was pleased about that. 

Is this not beautiful! From Goodreads

Eliza and Jeremy are not your typical main stage protagonists. They are both quiet people and pretty much allow others to be the center of attention. Eliza is a woman who actually likes to embroider and Jeremy is a highly renowned scholar that specializes in ancient texts. Yes, not your typical romance couple that you would imagine scurrying and hiding all over the Lowlands of Scotland while being chased and shot at. 

This mysterious laird was starting to frustrate me though. He attempts to have these women kidnapped and then whisked away from their families but then goes out of his way to ensure their safety once they have escaped. The readers are fed only tidbits about this laird and I am really anxious to read this next book 3, The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae. I need to know what is the deal with the ever-loving goblet the laird's mother has stolen that will rip apart his land & people and then make him lose everything? Is it the Holy Grail or something? The ending leaves off in a bit of cliffhanger so I am off to book 3 right now. 

Teasers: secret Scotland underground tunnels, Eliza in breeches, walking for days upon days, awesome proposal