BookRunes has a FREE suggestion for us by a man I have never read. It seems I downloaded but didn’t read two of his Young Adult stories in 2013. This one is adult fiction although I see by his booklist he has written extensively for children and teens.

The first few pages of today’s book caught my interest so I’m looking forward to this read.

Men writing romance novels seems like an oxymoron to me and curiosity has me wondering what it will be like. I’ve read a few over the years and so far they have been a pleasant surprise. I expect this will be as well.

When I stop and think about it, many of my favorite authors over the decades have had a romantic element in their stories and I didn’t think twice about it. Must be I’ve gradually become jaded by contemplation of life’s experiences. I look forward to it anyway.

The Duet

Four hands. Two hearts. One song.

When widower Gerrit Appeldoorn takes his granddaughter to piano lessons one day, he finds himself drawn to her music teacher, a woman unlike any he has known. It’s an unlikely attraction. He’s a retired dairyman with mud on his boots; Joan Horton is a world traveler and former piano instructor at New York’s prestigious academy of music. Not quite “beauty and the beast,” but close.

Even so, Gerrit slowly begins to open his heart to Joan, to music, and to the possibilities that may be found in both. Yet as their relationship deepens, Gerrit faces crises concerning his family and farm, and Joan confronts a dark secret that threatens her future. While coping with these challenges, neither can predict how their duet will sound as they practice the music of renewed hope and second chances.

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Last night I was trying to pick a new read and had three possibles. I settled on the Regency Romantic Suspense and it turned out to be a good choice. It has the perfect blend (in my estimation) with the suspense element being the stronger of the two. Two thirds of the way through and I’m still loving it.

A Perilous Plan: A Regency Romantic Suspense (Imperiled Young Widows Book 1)

Penelope Hammond finds herself a widow at the age of twenty-three, having been married five years to a man she barely knew. Her husband, David Hammond, Lord Hampstead, was a member of the House of Lords who rarely said more than a few words to her in a week’s time–and often did not come home at night.

Henry Gilchrist seems to know more about her husband than she does–that he was unfaithful to her with a young Frenchwoman who Penelope thought was her friend, that his gambling problem had sunk him deeply in debt, and that he had stolen some very important plans that could put the entire country in danger. And now both the French and the English governments think she knows where these plans are.

Penelope had no idea that her husband stole secret plans and intended to sell to the French, but no one seems to believe her, except Henry Gilchrist. When she starts to fall in love with the handsome young Member of the House of Commons, will he be too embittered from a former lost love to accept his own growing feelings? But first they must save themselves from those who would do them harm, or there will be no future for them, either together or apart.

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It has been a good book day. A good reading day too.

Happy Reading y’all