The Hummingbird Dagger by Cindy Anstey

When his younger brother takes the carriage and careens out onto the roadway at high speed, James shouts at him to slow down but he doesn't hear him.  When Walter hits the bridge, he also hits another carriage and both fly off the bridge.  James races down on his horse and sees his brother and his friend have not been injured.  The other carriage had a young woman in it and she's been injured.  The driver and his companion are recovering but she's not moving.  James demands that she be relinquished to him so he can take her home and have the doctor see her.  The men try not to give her up but he takes her anyway.  He doesn't know how much trouble he's just brought upon himself...

Macmillon Children's Publishing Group and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published April 16th.

When she wakes up, she doesn't know her name or anything about herself.  She also doesn't remember what happened to her.  As they try to help her remember the past, they find themselves meeting some shady characters.  They must have been used in the kidnapping or why would they be interested in her?

There are lots of characters, some good and some bad.  James and the young woman are falling love.  But they are trying to kill her now and he has to find somewhere to hide her.  He tries but she's found anyway.

When her identity is revealed, she's still not remembering them.  It's only when she visits a warehouse that part of it is coming back to her.

I was totally surprised to find who the mastermind of the plot was.  It ties it together and solves the mystery but it's not happy ever after for all.

The story reads like an old classic mystery novel and I enjoyed it.  Just watch out for that dagger... 

Duels & Deception by Cindy Anstey

She's her father's only heir but she also has a guardian.  He drinks too much, he refuses to listen to her, and he's running them in the red.  He doesn't care about the crops, he just wants money for his own use.  She wants to keep her home intact and functioning as it used to so her mother and other family members have a home.  She decides to talk to her lawyer about it.  But the man who shows up to talk to her is a young man.  He's an apprentice to the older lawyer.  He's also not bad looking...

Macmillans Children's Publishing Group and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published tomorrow.

Lydia is sure that she knows how her life will work out.  She'll marry the man her father chose and be a dutiful wife and mother in the future.  She has too many opinions to make that work with the milktoast man her father assigned her.  She also doesn't love him.  But she's working on a marriage contract anyway.

Then her life gets much more exciting.  She's interested in Robert and makes excuses to see him.  She and he get kidnapped and have to figure out how to escape.  Then she gets nailed with gossip and scandal about them spending the night together.  The fact that she was in the barn and he was on the outside can't be disclosed because that's just as damning.

Duels are illegal but there are two of them in this story.  I especially liked the weapons used in the last duel.  There's also attempted bigamy to get money from Lydia.  Lydia also has another surprise before the end.

This is a light-hearted romance with plenty of action in between.  I don't think Lydia's life is ever going to be boring.  I really enjoyed this read.