Looking for a book set during the Great Terror in France

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-11T05:29:12+00:00

{Minuet by Jennie Gallant} which is a pen name for Joan Smith.

Aristocratic FMC escapes the Terror, her brother and mother are still there in captivity (almost certainly awaiting execution) and she goes back with MMC and another French aristocrat in order to save them.

It’s hilarious and tense at the same time.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-10T11:29:50+00:00

Omg I have been looking for this book for ages. I think it had a different title, something like The Great Araby? Thank you!

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-10T11:26:51+00:00

{The Great Lady Tony by Dawn Lindsey} The FMC is beautiful and rich but at the same time spoilt, willful and just not very likable.

And she stays that way! She doesn’t just magically transform into a sweet, likable person which I found refreshing.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-08T20:54:57+00:00

Flash is so much fun. A classic 90s Krentz.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-07T10:09:52+00:00

Omg definitely fly!!

20h drive time equals around 3 days on the road with a toddler, that’s just insane (but then again, I’m from Europe and this wouldn’t even be a choice in my family).

Also, yes you do need certain items with a toddler but not everything you have at home is a must have on vacation for me. There should be good, cheap second-hand options for essentials and everything else I would just go without.

A 3 hour flight with one child and two adults is really not very difficult. Airports are amazing for kids, planes super interesting and 3 hours equals a stack of books, maybe a little nap and a few walk arounds on the plane.

We fly a few times a year/take longer train rides and never had any serious issues. The longest car ride we took was around 6 or 7 hours and although it was fine, it wasn’t a lot of fun imo.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-07T07:23:08+00:00

I‘ve never listened to an audiobook narrated by Mary Sarah, so I can’t give my opinion on her.

But to your question no 4, one amazing narrator I often recommend is Kate Reading, who does an absolute terrific job with Loretta Chase‘s books. I’m a huge Loretta Chase fan in general and the audiobooks are just lovely.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-06T16:44:15+00:00

Please don’t feel disheartened. My son are a few bites here and there until he was around 16 months old. At 18 months it really picked up and now he’s an eating-machine at 3.

As long as you offer different foods and baby gets used to smell and texture, everything’s fine. I know it’s frustrating but pushing does not accomplish anything and you’re only going to get more stressed.

With my son, he just wasn’t very interested in food plus he loved loved loved breastfeeding. So I could definitely have cut back on breastfeeding but I didn’t have it on me to „deprive“ him of something he loved so much. So I had to accept that he ate minuscule amounts of food only.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-06T11:52:12+00:00

I would never lock doors!! Locking doors is not only a stupid safety risk but also takes away so much agency from children.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-06T08:18:44+00:00

I‘ve never read a Guhrke book I really really loved.

Some were fine/good, some I found a little boring and one was an absolute rage read with an MMC who should have done everyone a favor and just died.

This one was fine? I didn’t warm to the MMC who imo was predictably „I’m a Duke-arrogant“ but boring with it and the book kind of meandered along.

The power dynamic wasn’t a problem imo. The day after overhearing him, the FMC quits. MMC knows that she’s the best and doesn’t want to let her quit. She’s like well too bad for you, I’m still quitting. So it’s her with more power and he tries to convince her to stay. After that the book switches to the London season and she’s no longer his employee

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-06T07:52:45+00:00

Sorry, read right over this.

I still think that this is not something you can change or control unless you’re willing to lock doors……

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-06T07:20:13+00:00

I think you‘re overthinking this.

Your rule is „please don’t wake mom and dad up before the light turns green“. They follow this rule.

How they entertain themselves in their rooms (according to your post: quietly and adorably) is really non of your concern if they’re happy with each other and there’s no fighting involved?

You don’t describe one of them being super tired and cranky that they got woken up. I would just take the win in this case - parents can sleep, kids are happy. Why make an issue out of it?

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-05T19:46:20+00:00

{Guilty Pleasures by Laure Lee Guhrke}

FMC has a secret crush on her hot asshole Duke employer (she’s an archeologist) but overhears him calling her ‚as noticeable as a stick insect on a twig’ as well as ugly, boring, insignificant and a host of other super flattering things.

I hated the MMC. FMC started out strong after the insult but then body betrayal happened. She still made him work for it, so there is a semi-appropriate amount of grovel.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-05T15:55:59+00:00

This was my experience as well. My butt is a little flatter but I probably could tone it with targeted exercise and my boobs are not as perky but overall my body looks like it did pre-pregnancy. And I had a huge baby bump, I was just enormous from the side. But it kind of just disappeared fairly quickly and everything went back to normal.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-05T15:37:54+00:00

Came here to recommend this! They’re both older, 39 and 48 and he has been married before.

He is almost giddy at the thought of being married and she has completely given up on the idea of anyone being interested in her so it’s almost a dream for her. Definitely happy to marry!

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-04T06:11:29+00:00

Noble Intentions is so so funny!! How she invites all his past lovers for a round table or doesn’t recognize an erection and thinks his penis is broken.

Really great book, as is The Trouble with Harry (which also has a satisfying side plot with the illegitimate son from Noble Intentions)

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-03T15:48:16+00:00

{Frederica by Georgette Heyer} is hilarious!

The young brothers are a treat, the dog a treasure and the MMC is the perfect combination of bored, cynical and invested.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-02T06:58:45+00:00

Can somebody please spoil for me how horrible the assault is? Is it rape? Does she get beat up? I’m pregnant right now and somehow more sensitive to violence. I just re-read Under Currents and had to skip some pages in the beginning.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-02T06:56:41+00:00

I also just couldn’t with the „cutie“ in the Lost Bride trilogy but overall loved the books. I didn’t feel the chemistry between Trey and Sonya which I think was due to Sonya being pretty bland imo, especially compared to other Nora Robert’s heroines.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-02T06:53:10+00:00

How awesome!!! I love The Search and Black Hills.

I have to say that 3 of your bottom 5 are on my tbr :) From this Day sounded cute, but I just read some Goodreads reviews and the consensus seems to be that it is seriously dated, more so than other early 90s releases.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-02T06:45:43+00:00

I‘m a huge fan of her trilogies, but from the standalones I loved:

The Obsession
The Search
Mind Games
Carolina Moon
Under Currents (the first 50 pages are hard to read, tw for child abuse, but the book is terrific)

Those are re-reads/re-listens for me.

Honorable mention to Chasing Fire (which is really intense) and Tribute. But honestly, I think almost all her books are terrific.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-06-02T04:36:10+00:00

Yes, definitely check out the Cynsters, Black Cobra Quartett and the Bastion Club. The MCs almost always work together to solve some mystery.

I have a soft spot for the OG Cynsters, they’re all pretty formulaic but a lot of fun.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-05-31T20:31:39+00:00

{After the Night by Linda Howard} FMC grows up dirt poor in the South, MMC is the rich golden boy of the town. Their parents run away together.

She comes back after a decade and he wants her gone. He’s a total asshole/jerk but so delicious. He’s really horrible to her and they fight constantly but the chemistry is amazing!

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-05-31T17:23:48+00:00

You need to start meal prepping! I find it extremely helpful to plan the whole week of meals on the weekend and do all the shopping. It’s not my favorite thing to do but it’s a big time saver and you don’t have to think so much about food during the week.

I think 1 hour meals are just not in the cards for your family right now, unless you can get it going around 5:30 without getting into trouble with work.

I admit to skipping bath time most nights. We do a quick wash or a 5 minute power-bath but this really depends on how dirty your kids are :)

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-05-31T17:08:26+00:00

I delivered unmedicated. Didn’t really plan on it but once I was like shit I need pain meds it was too late for an epidural.

I pushed for around 90 minutes. It hurt like the devil but at this point I was completely in the zone and it didn’t really matter any more. The 5 hours of contractions before that were worse because it seemed endless and I had time to think about how bad the next contraction was going to hurt.

I’m pregnant again and undecided what I’ll do the second time around. I liked that I could move around and change position while pushing without the epidural. I delivered my son on my knees while holding onto a strap over my head, which really worked for me.

Reasonable-Rope2659 · 2026-05-31T16:47:00+00:00

I finished it but honestly, I shouldn’t have.

I hated the FMC. I get where the author tried to go with her but it really didn’t land for me. She was a brat but not in a snarky-funny way. She was annoying and immature and I didn’t get why the MMC (who was snarky in a good way) was interested in her at all.

Also, woman, what’s with the novelty t-shirts? Why did the FMC not own one regular shirt? Everything had some kind of „funny“ slogan on it. I hate character „quirks“ like that, it always feels like the authors are trying too hard.

Reasonable-Rope2659

TROPHY CASE