Tag: #janeporter

Feature Post and Book Review: The Christmas Cottage by Jane Porter

Book Description

She’s ready for a charming Christmas in the English countryside…

It’s almost Christmas and Ella Roberts is ecstatic to be heading to Bakewell to spend the holidays with her sister and brother-in-law, the new Earl and Countess Sherbourne, and represent her family at the English wedding reception. Ella is looking forward to visiting the Sherbourne estate, exploring Bakewell, and experiencing a proper English Christmas. She just has two requests—that she stays in one of the historic cottages at Langley Park, and that the annoying best man not be invited to the reception.

Baird MacLauren was happy to serve as the best man to his closest friend from Trinity College’s wedding. The long weekend spent in the San Juan Islands celebrating his best friend was easy, but getting along with the bride’s mischievous sister who takes nothing seriously was an unexpected challenge. Baird thought he’d never have to see her again…until he spots Ella in Bakewell preparing for the reception.

To Ella’s dismay, her second request isn’t honored and now she’ll be spending Christmas with the most arrogant—and handsome—of Scottish men. Can they both keep their distance or will the magic of the season bring these two together?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122995195-the-christmas-cottage?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bdOLpycCLe&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE (Love at Langley Park Book #2) by Jane Porter is the perfect holiday contemporary romance that will warm your heart as you curl up on your favorite chair on a cold holiday night. It can be easily read as a standalone as it is a complete HEA, but many of the characters are from the first book and I am glad I read them in order.

Ella Roberts is on holiday from her job teaching and working on her PhD and is excited to be traveling to Sherbourne estate in England to be spending the holidays with her sister and brother-in-law. When she arrives, she finds her sister on bedrest and pregnant and the historic cottage on the estate she wanted to stay in is being occupied by the annoying best man from her sister’s wedding.

Baird MacLauren has come to Sherbourne as a favor to his best friend from Eton to help with the holiday festivities until he can get there himself. When he sees the beautiful and memorable sister-in-law, he is once again feeling an intense attraction that he refuses to give in to. When she is assigned to the same cottage, they both refuse to leave and now he must spend his holiday with the infuriating American he cannot seem to keep out of his thoughts.

With an attraction that sparks, will they keep their distance for the holidays, or will the magic of the season bring them together?

I was so happy to read this romance and completely satisfied in the end. I enjoyed the first book, Once Upon a Christmas, and was excited to see what came next. This story also has realistic characters and believable situations that pull you right in. Ella is an intelligent and feisty heroine who is a wonderful foil to the jaded attorney Baird has become. The dialogue is witty and smart. There is only one sex scene towards the end of the story, and it is very sexy, but not overly explicit. It is enjoyable to also catch up with all the occupants of Sherbourne estate and their lives. This romance has everything I look for in my HEAs and I have found this to be true with all of Jane Porter’s wonderful romances.

I highly recommend this holiday contemporary romance, the entire series, and this author.

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About the Author

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear. In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network. Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jane-porter

Feature Post and Book Review: Once Upon a Christmas by Jane Porter

Book Description

When Cara Roberts’ family plans an extra special Christmas to support her after her broken engagement, she wants nothing to do with the holiday. After learning her brother and his wife can’t use the cottage vacation they purchased, she impulsively escapes to an English cottage in the bucolic village of Bakewell, despite having no idea where Bakewell is.

Lord Alec Sherbourne of Langley Park is no fan of Christmas, but following in his parents’ footsteps, he annually donates his impressive 19th century country home to be decorated and opened on December weekends as a community fundraiser. This year, Christmas is complicated by the arrival of a pretty American woman who booked a cottage on his estate—only the cottage is occupied. Forced to take her under his vast roof, he’s dismayed when a storm and frozen pipes keep her with him longer than he’d anticipated. Even more worrisome, her presence is making it feel like Christmas for the first time in forever.

As these two holiday housemates become friends, is there something more in the Christmas air?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60894062-once-upon-a-christmas?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Kj8Wziqceh&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS (Love at Langley Park Book #1) by Jane Porter is an enchanting and heartwarming holiday contemporary romance featuring a hero and heroine finding love over the Christmas holiday. This is the first book in the Love at Langley Park series, and it has everything I want and hope for in a holiday romance read.

Cara Roberts broke up with her fiancée and is looking for a change of scenery over the holidays. Her brother gives her an English cottage vacation at Langley Park won in a school raffle. After a sixteen-hour trip from Seattle, Cara discovers a problem with overbooking and she is given a room in the main house with the handsome, but grumpy lord of the manor.

Lord Alec Sherbourne returns to Langley Park every Christmas holiday out of duty, but not with much holiday cheer after the death of his wife eight years ago. When burst pipes and a snowstorm have Cara staying in the manor with Alec and his elderly relatives over the holiday, he discovers this American is making Langley Park feel like Christmas for the first time.

This is a wonderful holiday romance. Cara is a sunny, optimistic person who loves people. Alec is a reserved English aristocrat who believes his responsibility is to his family estate and heritage above all else. When these two are forced together over the holiday, what should not work, does. I love Cara and the fact that she is always willing to tell the truth and have difficult discussions, even when it hurts her, but she does not stay down. She is able to open Alec’s closed off heart. This is a cozy romance with no sex scenes, just kisses, and yet it is one of the most romantic love stories I have recently read. Ms. Porter’s romances always give me realistic characters, dialogue, and emotional HEAs.

I highly recommend this delightful holiday contemporary romance! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

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About the Author

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear. In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network. Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jane-porter

Book Review: Flirting with Fire by Jane Porter

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

FLIRTING WITH FIRE (Modern Love Book #3) by Jane Porter is an engaging and delightful mature contemporary romance and the third story in the Modern Love trilogy. All the books in this trilogy can easily be read as standalones because there are few crossover scenes of the female friends this trilogy is centered around.

Margot Hughes is back in her hometown after twenty-five years of pursuing her Broadway dream. After a failed eleven-year relationship, she believes her dream life as a wife and mother has passed her by. Working for her friend, Sally, in her property development company, Margot is content until Sally pushes her back into the theater world when she is needed to save the summer community theater production.

Max Russo has worked hard for twenty years to become the famous star he is today. After growing up in a dysfunctional family and having two failed marriages, he has sworn off marriage. Sally was the one person who helped him and believed in him during his childhood, so he is willing to help her by starring in her summer community theater production opposite Margot Hughes. The attraction and chemistry are immediate. Max wants a relationship, but Margot has been down this road before and her and Max’s future wants are very different.

Can Margot sacrifice what she wants for her future again or is she better off alone?

I absolutely love Max and Margot. This contemporary romance has two mature people communicating and being honest with each other even when it hurts. Both Max and Margot change emotionally throughout this romance personally without trying to change the other. I fell right into the story with the realistic characters, beautiful descriptions of the California coastal towns, and believable dialogue. The sex scenes are explicit and smokin’ hot, but not gratuitous. This plot contains not only a beautiful romance, but also several real-life issues that can crop up during anyone’s life journey.

I love the Modern Love trilogy stories, the heroines’ friendships and support, and the varied mature contemporary romances Ms. Porter has written in each. I highly recommend these three romances: Flirting with Fifty, Flirting with the Beast and Flirting with Fire!

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About the Author

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 65 romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear.

Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband three sons, and two dogs. You can learn more about Jane at janeporter.com.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

Book Review: Flirting With the Beast by Jane Porter

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

FLIRTING WITH THE BEAST (Modern Love Book #2) by Jane Porter is an emotional romance/women’s fiction addition to the Modern Love series. This is a story featuring a mature woman in her sixties moving forward after major life changes. This book is a part of a series, but each book stands on its own.

Andi McDermott has mourned for her husband and long-term marriage for five years and has decided it is time to move on and date again with the encouragement of her girlfriends. When her stepson disappoints her by not coming for her planned Christmas dinner to meet his fiancée, she refuses to mope and takes off for the family cabin at Lake Arrowhead and invites her best friend, Margo to join her. Everything is going well, until Andi once again must deal with her closest neighbor, who had been feuding with husband for years.

With the threat of a major snowstorm, Margo returns home, but Andi does not leave in time to safely get home and finds herself snowed in. When her power goes out, she turns to the neighbor who is not quite what she imagined.

Wolf Enders enjoys the solitude of living full time at Lake Arrowhead. The Marine vet, divorced father lives as he pleases and while Andi has always found him intimidating, when she comes to his cabin, she finds him kind and uncomfortably sexy. Wolf finds he is attracted to Andi and wants to take this good girl to bed, but he is not interested in a relationship. But life keeps throwing these two together and Andi just might be the one to tame the beast.

This is a wonderful read, not just a romance, but an all-around emotional journey not only for the H/h but their family members also. Andi has grown personally since her marriage ended and while she now stands up for herself and what she wants, she is still kind and loving. Wolf needs his space, is gruff on the outside and is one of those men that takes care of his family in the things he does for them and not necessarily verbally. The on again off again relationship is very believable as they both deal with family drama, grief, and fear. The sexual relationship was well written and steamy. This story is based around the romance between Andi and Wolf, but the realistic situations with grown children, friends, and life in general makes this story multilayered and memorable.

I highly recommend this mature romance/women’s fiction!

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About the Author

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 65 romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear.

Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband three sons, and two dogs. You can learn more about Jane at janeporter.com.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

Book Review: Flirting with Fifty by Jane Porter

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

FLIRTING AT FIFTY (Modern Love Book #1) by Jane Porter is a women’s fiction/contemporary mature romance mash-up featuring two college professors who are reunited thirty years after a one-night stand in Paris.

Paige Newsom is close to her fiftieth birthday and finally satisfied with her life. A respected mathematics professor in Southern California with three adult daughters which she still has good relationships with even though they are all on their own around the country. She divorced her alcoholic husband eight years previously and has no wish to date ever again.

The head of her department calls her in to his office to tell he she will be dual teaching a class in the fall with a visiting professor due to another teacher’s medical leave. What Paige is not expecting is that her fellow professor is the famous epidemiologist and biologist Jack King. The same Jack King she had a one-night stand in Paris when she was twenty. Memorable for all the wrong reasons. Paige finds the mature Jack just as intriguing and alluring as ever, but she is happy with her life and does not want to open her heart to a man again. Jack wants more of Paige than she may be willing to give.

I am always excited when I can find a story with a mature romance. I found Jack to be wonderful and his reasons for not being married believable due to his professional life. I had a little more difficulty understanding Paige. Her life and tribulations as a mother of grown daughters and her longtime friendship with Elizabeth all rang true for me and I understood why she would be happy single after her terrible marriage, but I found her insecurities overblown especially with her career accomplishments. Her reasons for putting Jack off were the same for much of the story and then very quickly at the ending everything was fine. Other than that, I enjoyed all the secondary characters and the descriptions of the trip to Tanzania. I am looking forward to reading more in this series and discovering who will be featured in the next book.

This is an entertaining women’s fiction/contemporary mature romance read.

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About the Author

Born in Visalia, California, I’m a small town girl at heart. I love central California’s golden foothills, oak trees, and the miles of farmland. In my mind, there’s nothing sweeter in the world than the heady fragrance of orange blossoms on a sultry summer night.

As a little girl I spent hours on my bed, staring out the window, dreaming of far off places, fearless knights, and happy-ever-after endings. In my imagination I was never the geeky bookworm with the thick coke-bottle glasses, but a princess, a magical fairy, a Joan-of-Arc crusader.

My parents fed my imagination by taking our family to Europe for a year when I was thirteen. The year away changed me (I wasn’t a geek for once!) and overseas I discovered a huge and wonderful world with different cultures and customs. I loved everything about Europe, but felt especially passionate about Italy and those gorgeous Italian men (no wonder my first very Presents hero was Italian).

I confess, after that incredible year in Europe, the travel bug bit, and bit hard. I spent much of my high school and college years abroad, studying in South Africa, Japan and Ireland. South Africa remains a country of my heart, the people, the land and politics complex and heart-wrenching.

After my years of traveling and studying I had to settle down and earn a living. With my Bachelors degree from UCLA in American Studies, a program that combines American literature and American history, I’ve worked in sales and marketing, as well as a director of a non-profit foundation. Later I earned my Masters in Writing from the University of San Francisco and taught jr. high and high school English.

I now live in Seattle and Hawaii with my three sons. I never mind a rainy day, either, because that’s when I sit at my desk and write stories about far-away places, fascinating people, and most importantly of all, love. I like a story with a happy ending. We all do.

Social Media Links

Website: https://janeporter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjaneporter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjanep

Book Review: Married In Montana by Jane Porter

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MARRIED IN MONTANA (Paradise Valley Ranch Book 2) by Jane Porter is a wonderful historical romance that takes you back to 1890 Marietta, Montana. This book has a marriage of convenience storyline that focuses almost completely on the emotional growth of the hero and heroine without any trope scenes of external jeopardy or harm to force a sudden declaration of love. This story has a few references to Book 1 in the series, but can easily be read as a standalone.

Ellie Burnett is the pampered and spirited child of Archibald Burnett who is dying. To protect their large ranch and her father’s legacy, Ellie must marry and quickly. Though she can ride, shoot and run the ranch, her father wants her settled with an honorable man. What Ellie wants is to still be in control even after she marries.

Thomas Sheenan has come from Ireland to work hard and be his own man. The last thing he wants is a wife. He had to care for and bury his family in Ireland and he believes he is emotionally dead inside. When Ellie comes to him and proposes, he cannot turn her or the opportunity down, but he tells her he will never love her.

These two strong, independent and stubborn characters are then taken on an emotional journey by this author. Ellie starts out not knowing why anyone would not want the ranch and money that comes with her and an immature view of marriage. Thomas starts the marriage by taking complete control to gain the respect of the ranch hands and keep Ellie at a distance. The death of Ellie’s father devastates her and after months of depression, we begin to see small steps forward in understanding as Thomas forces her back into day to day living.

Ellie and Thomas are portrayed with strong emotions that continue to change and grow as the two become a couple. The sex scenes are well written and add to the growth of intimacy between Ellie and Thomas. These two start from very different places in life and yet deserve to find their HEA together.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.com.