This late afternoon was the RT Book Reviews Awards Ceremony in New Orleans. Congratulations to all the winners. 

Continuing my toast to the RT Convention, lets take a look at classic and new Historical Romance set in the Crescent City.

New Orleans is such a rich intersection of history, culture, and geography. The best romances weave all these elements into the love story. 

1. Midnight Confessions by Candice Proctor 

Widow Emmanuelle de Beauvais devotes herself tirelessly to the sick and injured of a grand city now occupied by the enemy. Then a night of unspeakable terror puts Emmanuelle at the center of a murder investigation and under the watchful eye of Yankee provost marshal Zachary Cooper

2. When Strangers Marry by Lisa Kleypas 

*Book source ~ Many thanks to Untreed Reads for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Coryn, Earl of Ardeth is really Ar Death and a reaper, a minion of the Devil. After centuries of reaping souls he wants a chance to be mortal and takes steps to that end in case he wins his gamble with the Devil. Win he does and the Devil has to put up or shut up. Making Ardeath mortal and then adding the caveat that Ardeath has to find his humanity and his hourglass (the brooch symbolizing his office) in six months or he will serve the Devil for all eternity. Ardeath is put down in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo and immediately sets to work easing the pain and suffering of the soldiers. While there he comes across a penniless widow, Imogene Hopewell Macklin, who has been cast off from polite society. His solution to both of their situations is for them to marry before heading to London. The problems before them seem insurmountable, but Ardeath has been a reaper in Hell for centuries. He’s not about to give up now especially when his mortal future is beginning to look so bright.

Well, this is the second historical romance with a paranormal twist by Barbara Metzger that I’ve read and I have to say I loved it. Her stories are always so entertaining and light-hearted even when the characters seem as if they will never rise from their problems and despairs. The romance part takes a bit of a back seat in this until towards the end while the paranormal part is the majority of the story. However, it all comes together beautifully. The writing carried me along and I didn’t want to put it down. Ardeath is one interesting dude and Genie has some spunk. I quite enjoyed how she tried to ignore her new husband’s *cough* eccentric behavior. And Olive the crow is hilarious. I would not have been so forgiving of her family as Genie is, but other than that I love how she’s trying to go with Ardeath’s flow. A sigh-worthy romance that also entertains is a rare treat and this one fits the bill nicely.

Her Sexiest Mistake- Jill Shalvis
Published by: Grand Central Publishing, on 5 November 2013
Genres: Adult, Chick-lit, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320, Format: eARC
Source: ARC Netgalley

Mia Appleby finally has the life she always wanted. She's escaped her trailer trash childhood and built a nice life for herself with a marketing job and a cute, little condo. But no matter how much baggage she's ditched from her past, she still hasn't managed to shake her greatest weakness-men. So when her new neighbor turns out to be single and oh-so-sexy, Mia's worried she's playing with fire . . .

Kevin McKnight can't get enough of his gorgeous neighbor, but after one amazing night, she's already showing him the door. Something tells him this is the way she handles most men. But Kevin is far from your average guy-and he's ready to prove it to Mia. When a blast from her past shakes up Mia's life in a major way, will she stick with her self-sufficient solo act . . . or take a chance leaning on Kevin's strong shoulders?

*I received a free ARC of Her Sexiest Mistake from Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

Her Sexiest Mistake has all the ingredients a fun and sexy contemporary romance needs to keep me entertained, and on my toes while reading. Mia thinks she has it all – she is far, far away from the trailer park she grew up in, she has a great job, and her life is nice and orderly – with no man to mess things up for her. That is, until Kevin moves in and she can’t help but flirt with him. She wants to keep it very casual, though, only sex and play, no serious business at all for her personal life.

I think one of the things I really appreciated in Her Sexiest Mistake is that the gender roles are reversed. Mia is only looking for a no-strings-attached relationship, and has no qualms about showing up at Kevin’s door to share some hot and sexy times with him, and he seems to become attached to her from the first night they spend together. I’m not completely sure if I’d have enjoyed it so much if it was Kevin who acted like Mia and vice versa, but reading about a heroine who thinks that her work is the most important thing in her life, only to see the changes she goes through very slowly to change that point of view really worked for me!

Kevin is a good hunk of a man, and he’s almost obsessed with fixing people. He is a teacher, and also helps out at the teen center so that the young people in the neighborhood has somewhere to go after school without getting into trouble. His brother, Mike, is also in need of saving, but he seems to prefer to lean on Kevin for all the hard work, and just float by on his own. Mia is very closed off in the beginning, and she is a great career woman with a corner office and acting like a shark in the office. When her niece Hope shows up out of the blue, her reality seems to shift, as does her priorities. And seeing the change Mia goes through was very rewarding, even if it did take some time.

Her sexiest mistake is full of steamy scenes, and the chemistry between Kevin and Mia is palpable! I found myself almost holding my breath at times, because I just wanted Mia to get what a treasure she had found in Kevin! And having Hope stay with her made Mia see many things differently, and she found herself feeling things she had kept at bay for years. Suddenly, her job wasn’t all that, and she managed to make some new friends, and even show Hope that she cared about her. A lot.

If you are looking for a great contemporary romance, Her Sexiest Mistake will keep you reading and enjoying it until the end of the book. And I actually think the secondary characters, like Mike and Tess deserve their own story as well. And of course, I wouldn’t be against reading more about Kevin and Mia either. The characters are really well done, I could get Mia and her doubts because of how she grew up, and how far away from that life she wanted to be. She kind of lost herself on the way, though, but when she figured out how to get back on track, she truly gave it her all. The writing is excellent, the flow makes reading very easy, and I recommend Her Sexiest Mistake to all romance lovers!

 A gorgeously rumpled male head with sleepy, heavy-lidded light caramel eyes and a slow smile that had all sorts of wicked, naughty trouble in it. God, she was a sucker for wicked, and with that bad-boy motorcycle of his and those let-me-do-you eyes, this man so fit the bill.

The man was comfortable in his own skin, she’d give him that. As well he should be, because his skin, and everything beneath it, was damn fine.

Mia sighed. Momma loved men, all men, but mostly the kind that never stuck around – or if they did, you wished they hadn’t.

In turn, his smile had widened and she’d melted on the spot. Clearly, he was a bit of a rebel, a bad boy, which meant he was a man after her own heart, and therein lay the problem. She didn’t like a man after her heart.

Despite his easygoing demeanor, he was a fellow hard-core competitor. How sexy was that?

He was strong, reliable. Solid. Oh, no doubt, if she’d been the relationship type, she’d want him for keeps.

She stared at him, absorbed the cocky words, and had to laugh. Hope might the one taking classes this summer, but the truth was, Mia was the one getting several life lessons.

I am laughing a lot so far, it's a humorous books, with lots and lots of chemistry!