Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: 5/25/23
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 268

I loved everything about this delightfully entertaining, witty, romantic book! I do mean everything – from the author’s note in the front – which I totally LOVED and agree with – to the preview of an upcoming book by another author at the end. Sandwiched between the author’s note and the preview was a lovely story of romance, growth, and learning what it really means to be a family. With most books, I seem to love one of the main characters, but only like the other. Not in this book, I was enamored with both of the MCs from the first and could hardly wait for them to get their HEA – which they most definitely did. While this appears to be a standalone book, I could easily see a second book where the current Marquess (can I say dies) and Sabrina finds a true HEA for herself. Yes, that would be a satisfying story to read.

Colonel Lord Theodore Marshall, a hero of the recent wars, had sold his commission and was going to go to America. Though he had no love for his home and family, he decided to pay a brief visit before his departure. His mistake? He sent word he was coming. When he arrived he found his brother had mired the marquessate in scandal and financial ruin and then run away. He just disappeared – and now, Theo was left to clean up the mess because as a man of honor, he couldn’t do anything else. He. Was. Stuck. He had a termagant of a sister-in-law to contend with, massive amounts of debts, piles of paperwork, and, well, just more than one man ought to have to handle when it wasn’t his mess in the first place. Perhaps the worst was the scandal his brother had created when his investment scheme went belly up and caused several people in the ton (and out of it) to lose massive amounts of money. How could Theo ever make any of that right?

Miss Abigail Lemon has had the absolute worst month of her short twenty-two years of existence. Her father died of a heart attack and as an only child, she was left totally alone to make all of the arrangements. Then, another blow at the reading of the will when she found there was no money for her, the banks were taking her home, and she had no place to even lay her head. The final blow, the one that did her in and stiffened her spine at the same time, was when her betrothed, the man who said he loved her and would always stand beside her, quickly let her know that without her dowry, they couldn’t marry.

During that one awful day of the reading of the will and Henry’s betrayal, she also learned the cause of the loss of her father’s fortune. He’d invested in a building venture headed by the Marquess of Salway. Well! She had worked herself into a total temper and proceeded to march to the Marquess’ home and to tell him exactly what she thought of him and that he owed her at least a recommendation for a place to work – something that would put food in her belly and a pillow under her head at night. When she was quite through with her tirade, the man politely told her that he was not the Marquess, but his brother – and that the Marquess had left the country.

OMGoodness! Abigail’s despair was palpable as she left. What would happen to her? Where would she go? What would she do? Theo’s need to help and Abigail’s need for a place to live and income led them to a workable solution. What neither of them wanted nor expected was an attraction – but it was there and it was such a delight to watch them work together to solve the problems of the estate, form a friendship, and learn to care for each other.

You’ll love the secondary characters – especially Kitchen, and Lady, the dog. I came to really like Sabrina, the marchioness. It was nice to watch her grow from a total mean-spirited shrew into someone who was a caring mother and friend. So, yes, I would like to see Sabrina get her own HEA.

I can definitely recommend this book and I hope you will love it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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