Barbara’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Misfortunes Favorites #1
Publication Date: 1/24/24
Period: Regency – London
Number of Pages: 312

Once upon a time, there was George Oxley (King), Marquess of Kingston, heir to the Duke of Avebury. For all of his thirteen years, King had craved the love and attention of his father. That, however, would never happen because his father was a self-centered, uncaring, disinterested, selfish man who never gave a thought to anything other than himself. His craving for his father’s attention led him to all sorts of exploits and his friends Henry and Rory were right there with him. That is how they came to the attention of an evil witch – and how they became cursed – and how they lost everything that mattered to them when the curse kicked in on their thirtieth birthdays. Or, did they really lose the important stuff?

On King’s thirtieth birthday, he and his friends had a wild celebration and ended the evening in a brawl in The Silver Unicorn, a public house in Seven Dials. The following morning, he was awakened from his stupor by a loud knocking at the door of his bed chamber – and there were other noises in the background. He learns his father has been convicted of treason; King is likely to be stripped of everything as well because his father’s blood taints him; and his creditors are stripping his townhouse of everything that isn’t nailed down – and some stuff that is. He just walks out of the house and leaves them all to it – but – he is stopped by a petite, termagant of a woman who demands he pay her for the damage to her pub. He tells her he has nothing to pay with and somehow ends up going back to the pub with her. How did that happen?

Violet Baker is a pragmatic young woman who has had to learn to be tough to survive in Seven Dials, keep her young brothers safe, and manage her public house. When those drunken sots decided to have a brawl in her place, they didn’t care if they were ruining not only her livelihood but the safety of herself and her brothers. Well, she would just take the bill directly to the mighty Marquess. She couldn’t believe he could not pay the few pounds she demanded he owed her. Humpf, she’d just watch him until he could pay it.

Goodness, I loved Violet and King together. He, who had always craved love, and she, who was afraid of love, seemed an unlikely pair. The chemistry though, is strong and you can feel it radiating off the page. Then, there is Georgie (six) and Joshua (thirteen), they are Violet’s brothers are some of the loveliest characters you’ll ever read. Violet’s jaw drops as she sees how her brothers react to King – and he to them. WOW!

This was a delightful read filled with witches, curses, traitors, loss, loyalty, triumph over evil, and a well-deserved HEA. I didn’t expect to love it because – witches – and spoiled, self-centered, entitled, lazy, rich dude – but – I did love it. Now, I can hardly wait for the next book in the series. Will it be Harry or Rory? Who will have the second clue to counteracting the curse? After all the books are done, will they be so happy they don’t care about breaking the curse? Goodness, we’ll have to wait for the next books to find out.

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