Today, bestselling author Jenna Jaxon is guesting. She’s talking about her latest release, As Long as You’re Mine, a historical romance. Be sure to read my review. And don’t forget to enter the King Sumo giveaway.
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Why does the heroine wish to be compromised?
That is an excellent question because the motive for the heroine’s actions in the novel stem directly from this question. Lady Amantha Easton has gone to some trouble to get herself compromised by the man she wants to marry, but whom her father refuses to entertain as her husband. And it’s Amantha’s history with her father that’s at the heart of the matter.
When Amantha was a little child she spent the majority of her time with her mother on one of her father’s estates. All Amantha remembers is that her mother loved her father desperately but that he always left them alone at the estate. In Amantha’s memory, this broke her mother’s heart and she became convinced that her father didn’t love her mother. In fact, her mother often said love was a terrible thing, leaving the six-year-old Amantha with the impression that love was not worth the misery it caused. And when her mother died, Amantha was bundled off to live with her grown brother and his family, cementing the idea that her father hadn’t loved either her or her mother.
As Amantha grew up, she became convinced that she did not want to marry for love—didn’t want to marry at all in fact. But when she turned eighteen, she was duly sent off to London for her Season but was careful not to fall in love with any of the young gentlemen. In fact, she tried to find men who she was sure she wouldn’t fall in love with—gentlemen who weren’t terribly intelligent or who didn’t strike her as witty or charming. Unfortunately, when she presented these gentlemen to her father as suitors, he refused, saying that she needed to make a love match.
So at the opening of As Long As You’re Mine, Amantha has hit upon a new strategy to facilitate her marrying the latest man she’s chosen. If she gets herself spectacularly compromised, her father will have to let her marry the man or it will be a terrible scandal. Which is why she’s slipping into the bedroom of her latest suitor—or so she thinks. And it takes her a minute to discover her mistake—a mistake in more ways than one. Because the man in the bed she crawls into excites her more than anyone she’s ever met. Which in turn makes him the worst man to have compromised her—or was it actually the best one?
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Title: As Long as You’re Mine
Series: N/A
Author: Jenna Jaxon
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 338 pages
Release Date: March 31,l 2026
A scandalous mistake…or a wicked way to happiness?
Blurb: Hoping to compromise herself, Lady Amantha Easton sneaks into the bedroom of her would-be suitor only to find a total stranger there—a totally handsome, charming stranger to be sure—but not at all the man she plans to marry. She leaves his room with her reputation intact—barely—only to fall victim to the gentleman’s charms in a public place. Now Amantha must face the fate she’s tried to avoid—marriage to a man who will never love her.
All Rafael Beauregard wanted was a warm bed and a good night’s sleep…but what he got was an unexpected romp with a beautiful vixen and a fiery kiss that left him wanting more. An excellent trade, except now he’s got to marry Lady Amantha, one of the most willful women he’s ever met. So Rafe’s challenge is to persuade her that marriage to him might be the best thing for them both…once he convinces himself.
“What is it, love? What’s wrong?”
“Father,” was all she could get out at first.
“You went to see him? He didn’t agree to grant your request?”
Amantha nodded and sniffed. Rafe reached into his breast pocket and produced a handkerchief. “He g…gave me a choice. Marry you or…or be put in p…prison.”
“Prison!” What kind of monster would threaten his own daughter with prison? And what kind of power did such a man wield? “He’s going to send you to Newgate? On whose authority?”
“His own authority.” She wiped her eyes and nose then clenched the square of linen in her fist. “And not Newgate. Not a real prison. But he will turn his northernmost property, Woolston Lodge in Northumberland, into a prison. He will send me there tomorrow, with no clothes and no friends, just a jailor and armed guards for the rest of my life.” Tears threatened again and Rafe pulled her head back to his shoulder.
“Shh, love. Don’t think about it. We won’t let that happen, will we?” She shook her head and nestled deeper. The small movement of acquiescence shot straight to his heart. He could fix this. “I am afraid, though, that I’m going to have to change my mind about our marriage.”
She sat bolt upright, terror widening her eyes as she stared at him.
Damn. He hadn’t meant to frighten her even more. His own fault for drinking that second brandy.
“Shhh.” He ran a gentle thumb down her delicate jaw line, cupping her chin and pulling her face close enough that she had to look into his eyes. “Amantha, I just meant I now want to marry you more than anything in the world.”
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Since historical romance is my favourite sub-genre, I jumped at the chance to read and review this book. The premise is classic: Lady Amantha Easton has a bold plan to get herself compromised by her beau, forcing her domineering father to allow a marriage. She isn’t looking for love; she just wants a husband she can manage—someone who will never claim her heart or her desire.
But her plan goes deliciously awry when she slips into the wrong bed and finds Rafael Beauregard. Instead of a quiet night, Rafe finds himself having the time of his life with the luscious lady who appeared between his sheets.
I loved the twist the author took here. While they could have easily been caught in the bedroom, they actually manage to keep that encounter a secret. Instead, it’s their undeniable chemistry the following morning that traps them. Caught in a spontaneous, lustful kiss in the garden by both her father and her beau, they are forced into an engagement.
This set-up really gets the story moving. Amantha is a fantastic protagonist for the late Victorian era—spunky, quick-witted, and unapologetic about chasing what she wants. Rafe is the perfect foil: a gentleman to the core with a roguish streak hidden under his waistcoat. Their chemistry is absolutely electric.
The story stays tightly focused on the couple, though we do get a few glimpses of the spurned beau, Tolbert. You won’t feel sorry for him for long, though—you’ll have to read on to see his true colours revealed. I also appreciated how the author maintained historical accuracy, from the weight of a public scandal to the era-appropriate dialogue.
My only quibble is the heavy use of internal monologue. Both characters spend a great deal of time lost in their own thoughts, which occasionally slowed the pace of an otherwise engaging romance.
Still, with that quibble aside, it’s a wonderful, well-written romance with wit and even suspense that I recommend to those who enjoy historical romances set in England. You won’t be disappointed.
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Jenna Jaxon is a best-selling author of historical romance, writing in a variety of time periods because she believes that passion is timeless. She has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all these elements into her own stories.
She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets–including Olive, an almost silent cat, Earl Grey, a very curious bunny, and a Shar-pei mix dog named Frenchie.
Follow Jenna: Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | Threads | TikTok | BookBub | Amazon
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Maggie Blackbird 