Lyon of the Highlands (The Lyon’s Den Connected World)

You Were Made to Be Mine by Julie Anne Long

Title:  You Were Made to Be Mine
Series:  The Palace of Rogues, book 5

Author: Julie Anne Long
Publisher: Avon and Harper Voyager 
Genre:  General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Romance
Format:  Kindle
No. of Pages: 364
Date of Publication:  28 June, 2022
My Rating:  4.5 Stars

My Thoughts 

This wasn’t just regular fun to read, it was sparklingly fun and I found myself being amused and charmed during my reading of this title. 

This was my first book by the author and I really enjoyed the humor in this story, the swoony lines that really charmed me, and the downright heat in the scenes that comprised this story were so well put together and I utterly adored the end result. 

I wasn’t aware that this was part of a series when I requested it but it read  well as a standalone, but I am still planning on taking the time to read this series, especially if it’s as entertaining as this title was. If only for the opportunity to hopefully visit the charming establishment of The Grand Palace on the Thames again. 

Everything about this one worked so well together. Recommended for historical romance fans, who like humor, awesome heroines and heroes. 

A couple of my favorite quotes from this - 

All in a room containing a woman who made him feel as though he were not subject to the laws of time when she was near. As though he was weightless and entirely new. That nothing of consequence mattered apart from the fact that he was alive and so was she, at the same time. He was the world’s most brutally pragmatic man, but it felt as though he finally understood what the word “destiny’ meant. And destiny, ironically, felt not like a misty fantasy but like a cold hard fact: 

She was meant for him. And that was why he was here.”

“He recalled sitting across from Brundage and holding that miniature of her so tightly it had pressed a groove into his palm. As if his future was already imprinted upon him. As if he’d known even then.”

The title made me think of this song, for days on end - 

eARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley. Opinions shared are my own.

Description

"I am in awe of her talent."— Julia Quinn

In the fifth installment of USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s charming Palace of Rogues series, a rakish spy finds more than he bargained for in his pursuit of an earl’s enchanting runaway fiancée.

The mission: Find the Earl of Brundage’s runaway fiancée in exchange for a fortune. Child’s play for legendary British former spymaster, Christian Hawkes. The catch? Hawkes knows in his bones that Brundage is the traitor to England who landed him in a brutal French prison. Hawkes is destitute, the earl is desperate, and a bargain is struck.

Fleeing a savagely shattered dream, the sheltered Lady Aurelie Capet finds refuge in an alias and the warmth and kindness of the Grand Palace on the Thames—until a gorgeous, mysterious disturbance to her peace literally topples through the door.

An unexpected, fierce desire that feels destined, dangerous—and devastatingly sweet—ignites between the sheltered beauty and the jaded spy, and as they slowly unravel each other's shocking secrets Hawkes closes in on the truth about the earl. Soon it’s clear they can have no future without vanquishing the past: Hawkes knows that loving her means avenging her. Aurelie knows that loving Hawkes means freeing him to do that, no matter the cost.