Champagne & Spurs is a battle of the broken. Scars run deep. Harry has external marks, Lucy has internal ones. Neither are comfortable with facing the demons that dog them from every angle. instead each prefers to numb themselves to the pain. By any means necessary. The problem with doing so is that in their self-destruction others are collateral damage. Scarlet takes life at it's most painful and finds beauty in the pain and redemption in the healing. ( )

REVIEW: To maintain her inheritance, Lucy is pushed to get married. Accepting Charlie’s proposal sets her on an unexpected course with his scarred brother, Harry. “Harry Holybourne only had one eye, but somehow he managed to see twice as much of me as anybody else had ever done.” The story has some steamy scenes but doesn’t always ring realistic. Hard to think that Lucy was unaware of Charlie’s proclivities. It was still a fun read. This is my review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: Lucy - A prim and proper little princess, they called me. Twenty-eight-years-old, never been kissed, and the closest thing I've ever had to a relationship is running my family vineyard.
But then I met him - a surly, one-eyed war veteran with a will of iron and a heart of gold.
In a single day, he made me feel things I didn't think were possible. In one forbidden afternoon, he made a woman out of me. And now everything is ruined. Because how can an ice-queen like me burn for somebody so hotly? And how can he and I be together, when I'd foolishly promised to get married to his brother?

Harry - An anti-aircraft shell took my eye, my military career, and a whole lot more than that. Now I live alone, in the big, old house I grew up in, with only racehorses and whiskey for company. And I like it that way. At least when I'm on my own, I don't have to endure the stares, or the whispers, or the kids pointing in horror at my half-a-face.
But all that was ruined when my brother announced he was getting married and insisted I 'get to know' his blushing bride-to-be.
My brother, the aspiring politician. He'd never had any interest in women. I knew he'd only get engaged for political convenience; to put on a respectable face for all those picky voters. He didn't even want to hold a girl's hand, so I knew whichever girl he'd pick to marry would have to have a cynical reason of her own.
But why did he have to pick her?
Because the moment I met Lucy Henwood, everything changed. Her engagement to my brother might be a sham, but my feelings about her aren't. And after one afternoon of forbidden passion, I know she feels the same way. I've never burned like this for a woman; and nobody's ever made me feel this complete before.
But how can we be together, when she's stood up and told the world that she's marrying my brother? ( )