Ruse Romance

Unjustly labeled a flirt, Kitty Beaucroft is in need of a fiancé. Lord Philip Butler’s father wants him to settle down before he can become a landowner. With no intention of following through, Kitty and Philip enter into a temporary engagement as a means to an end. Unfortunately, someone knows the truth and is determined to expose them.

Harlequin® Romance brings you a collection of four new titles, available now! Experience the rush of falling in love! This Harlequin® Romance box set includes: IT STARTED WITH A PROPOSAL The Bridal Party By Susan Meier Riley’s passionate about planning unique proposals—but her latest client, Italian billionaire Antonio, never intends to remarry. He simply wants a pretend engagement…with her as his bride-to-be! His motives are heartrending, so Riley agrees. But while pretending to be in love with Antonio is one thing, falling into his bed is emotionally risky. Because while it started with a ruse, Antonio’s diamond ring fits a little too well! HIS PRINCESS ON PAPER Royal Sarala Weddings By Nina Milne Reluctant Prince Rohan can no longer ignore the ticking clock of his future. The solution? A beneficial marriage on paper to a neighboring princess—and Elora fits the bill. While guarded Elora is wary of Rohan’s hard-edged reputation, she’s also duty-bound to accept. However, when sparks ignite the moment their eyes meet, they realize they can have fun faking the fairy tale…until it starts to feel dangerously real! BREAKING THE BEST FRIEND RULE Invitation from Bali By Justine Lewis Charlotte’s best friend, Ben, has always been her rock. So when Ben needs Charlotte to attend his mother’s surprise Bali wedding, of course she accepts. Only, while in paradise, Charlotte starts to see Ben differently… Blame it on the jet lag or the sultry heat, they just can’t resist stolen sunset kisses! But with their friendship at stake, dare they break the rules and take things to the next level…? HIGHLAND FLING WITH HER BOSS By Karin Baine Running her own chocolate shop in a Highland castle is a dream come true for Bonnie. Working with her reluctant new boss, Ewen, is not… The brooding tycoon is infuriating and disarmingly attractive in equal measure, but fragile Bonnie can’t chance her heart again. A fling, however, could be just what they both need… It’s only supposed to be fun—and temporary! Except now Bonnie begins to wonder if Ewen is the second chance she never saw coming…

Lucas Andino had been summoned by the king…the only problem? He needed a wife…or at least a fiancée, which wouldn’t have been a problem except…his girlfriend just broke up with him. In desperation, he turned to his best friend, Francesca—or Frankie as she was known to, well, everyone. Frankie needed a topic for her sociology dissertation, and she needed it yesterday. When Lucas suggested they become fake engaged so he could answer the summons of the king, Frankie saw the opportunity for what it was. Who else would have unfettered access to a monarch for their dissertation? Who else could do an up close and personal examination of an emerging nation? Besides, Frankie would do anything for Lucas. They were best friends for a reason and if he needed her, then she was his girl. So what if she had a tiny crush on him? They were both going into it with their eyes wide open. No one was going to get hurt.

Whilst French romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries have long enjoyed a privileged place in the literary history of France, romances from the later middle ages have been largely neglected by modern scholars, despite their central role in the chivalric culture of the day. In particular, although this genre has been seen as providing a forum within which ideas about masculine and feminine roles were debated and prescribed, little work has been done on the gender ideology of texts from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This study seeks to fill this gap in the scholarship by analysing how the views of gender found in earlier romances were reassessed and reshaped in the texts produced in the moralising intellectual environment of the later medieval period. In order to explore these topics, this book discusses fifteen historico-realist prose romances written in the century from 1390, many of which were commissioned at the court of Burgundy. It addresses key issues in recent studies of gender in medieval culture including the construction of chivalric masculinity, the representation of adolescent desire, and the social and sexual roles of husbands and wives. In addition to offering close readings of these texts, it shows how the romances of the period were informed by ideas about gender which circulated in contemporary works such as manuals of chivalry, moral treatises, and marriage sermons. It thus aims not only to provide the first in-depth study of this little-known area of French literary history, but also to question the critical consensus on the role of gender in medieval romance that has arisen from an exclusive focus on earlier works in the genre.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Romance of Tristan and Iseult" by Joseph Bédier. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The first English language translation of Bédiers classic work in nearly seventy years, this volume is the only edition that provides ancillary materials to help the reader understand the history of the legend and Bédier's method in creating his classic retelling.

All of our best dates end up in the emergency room.... I planned the perfect proposal. Plenty of lobster, caviar, champagne and--her favorite--tiramisu. The perfect setting. The perfect woman. The perfect everything. Dad gave me my late mother's engagement ring, platinum and diamonds galore. Shannon wouldn't care if I slid a giant hard-candy ring on her finger instead of a three-carat diamond designed to impress. But my future mother-in-law, Marie, will pass out when she sets eyes on that rock, which will give us two minutes of blessed silence. That woman talks more than Kim Kardashian flashes her naked backside on the internet. I was going to make it perfect, from the color of the tablecloth to the freshness of the roses. And it was perfect. Until Shannon swallowed the ring. * * * Shopping for a Billionaire's Fiancée gives near-billionaire Declan McCormick the chance to tell his story in this continuation of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Shopping for a Billionaire series. ***** Read what others are saying about Julia Kent: "Heartwarming and intensely emotional, Our Options Have Changed is witty, sexy and hilarious with a heroine you admire and a hero you can't help falling in love with." -- Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author "Reading a Julia Kent book is like taking a vacation with your best friends. They'll make you laugh, tug on your heartstrings, and leave you wanting more." -- New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster "Kent and Reed create rom com magic in this friends to lovers romance. Laughter, tears, and all the swoons." -- USA Today Best Selling author Daisy Prescott "Witty, sexy, funny and delightfully delicious--love it from beginning to end."-- USA Today bestselling author T Gephart "An utterly charming celebration of the messiness of love, life, and motherhood... every woman deserves a Nick." -- Laurelin Paige, New York Times bestselling author Reader and Blogger reviews: "Move over Sophie Kinsella and make way for Julia Kent. I haven't laughed so much since the Shopaholic series." -- Reader review "Shannon reminds me of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum character..." -- Reader review "Another best seller by the Queen of romantic comedy." -- Reader review "Kent took this fun, sexy tale and gave it a depth that made it so darn easy to read." -- Glass Paper Ink Bookblog "Nothing has made me laugh out loud this much since I read Bridget Jones' Diary many, many years ago." -- Reader review "This book is a MUST READ and I can't WAIT for the next one!!!" -- Reader review "...Julia Kent has once again brought the laugh until you cry scenes, but has added a new aspect to her writing..." -- Avid Reader Book Reviews "The characters in this book are absolutely magnetic and you can't help but be drawn into their lives." -- Reader review "This book is bursting at the seams with all the fun and witty banter!" -- Eargasms Audiobook Reviews Read the entire billionaire romance series, starting with the New York Times bestselling start! Shopping for a Billionaire Shopping for a Billionaire's Fiancee Shopping for a CEO Shopping for a Billionaire's Wife Shopping for a CEO's Fiancee Shopping for an Heir Shopping for a Billionaire's Honeymoon Shopping for a CEO's Wife Shopping for a Billionaire's Baby Shopping for a CEO's Honeymoon Shopping for a Baby's First Christmas Shopping for a CEO's Baby Shopping for a Yankee Swap Topics: contemporary romance, romantic comedy, shopping romance, billionaire romance, billionaire, series, romantic comedy series, comedy, comedy series, bbw romance, funny romance, laugh romance, modern romance, urban romance, boston, boston romance, wealthy, USA today, USA today bestseller, CEO romance, office romance, city romance, smart romance, mystery shopping, mystery shopping romance, dogs in romance, cats in romance, lighthearted romance, light romance, hot romance, julia kent, julia kent romance, wedding, wedding romance, vegas, vegas romance, vegas wedding, escape wedding, humor, humorous romance, satire, american humor, wedding romance, literature & fiction, entertainment, humor and comedy, romantic comedy, proposal, billionaire proposal, engagement Perfect for readers of Emma Chase, Penny Reid, Lauren Blakely, Sally Thorne, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Kendall Ryan, Kristan Higgins, Helena Hunting, Sophie Kinsella and Alice Clayton. Audiobook narrated by Zachary Webber.

The fighting female archetype--a self-reliant woman of great physical prowess--has become increasingly common in action films and on television. However, the progressive female identities of these narratives cannot always resist the persistent and problematic framing of male-female relationships as a battle of the sexes or other source of antagonism. Combining cultural analysis with close readings of key popular American film and television texts since the 1980s, this study argues that certain fighting female themes question regressive conventions in male-female relationships. Those themes reveal potentially progressive ideologies regarding female agency in mass culture that reassure audiences of the desirability of empowered women while also imagining egalitarian intimacies that further empower women. Overall, the fighting female narratives addressed here afford contradictory viewing pleasures that reveal both new expectations for and remaining anxieties about the "strong, independent woman" ideal that emerged in American popular culture post-feminism.