Category: Georgian Era (1714-1837)

The Georgian era is a period in British history 1714 to 1830. The kings were all named George: George I, George II, George III and George IV. The sub-period of the Regency is defined by the Regency of George IV as Prince of Wales during the illness of his father George III. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the short reign of William IV, which ended with his death in 1837.
Preceded by: Restoration
Including: Regency era
Followed by: Victorian era

The Knot of A Knight by Linda Rae Sande

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Georgian Era (1714-1837)Leave a comment

The Knot of a Knight (The Holidays of the Aristocracy, #2)
Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Holidays of the Aristocracy #2
Publication Date: 3/2/21

This was first released as part of the Have Yourself A Merry Little Secret boxed set in October of 2020 and is now being released as a standalone. It is a lovely and fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed – especially when I get two romances within one book! The writing is excellent and the story is interesting and well-plotted. I’m hoping to see more books featuring the Marquess of Reading’s children – particularly the illegitimate ones – all I can say is that he is one fertile dude!

Randall Roderick, the Marquess of Reading has seven – soon to be eight – children. In his younger years, he was a rake extraordinaire. He dropped his seed anywhere and everywhere. While we may dislike him for his indiscriminate fathering of children, he always took responsibility for them, he gave them his name, he saw to their care and upkeep, and he always played a role in their lives as much as he could. He met and fell in love with his marchioness about seven years ago and has given up his rakish ways. Now, in addition to his four illegitimate sons and one illegitimate daughter, he has two legitimate sons and one child on the way.

Randolph Roderick is the oldest of the illegitimate children. He is the spitting image of his father in looks and the exact opposite in the way he conducts his life. He manages one of his father’s breeding/training stables and he also works for the Foreign Office – and that job got him a knighthood. He’s now Sir Randolph Roderick. He is also a widower with a baby. Luckily, he and his father are fairly close and the baby, Charlie, is sharing the nursery with his uncle Robert, who is 2 years old. Everyone except Randolph seems to know he needs a wife and Charlie needs a mother. Little does he know that Juliet Comber, the wife of one of his friends, has decided to do some matchmaking between several of her friends.

Xenobia Dunsworth is the widow of a baron. It wasn’t a love match, but they had been good friends all of their lives. Sadly, that friendship didn’t really translate well into the marriage. Xenobia is just days out of mourning when she is visited by her very good friends – Lady Julia Comber and Lady Caroline Chamberlain. Julia realizes how very lonely and sad Xenobia is – and she decides to do something about it.

Rachel Roderick is the younger illegitimate sister of Randolph, but neither of them knows about the other. Rachel attended finishing school in Zurich with Julia and Xenobia, but she stayed on longer than they did. Now, she is back. Her mother and, unbeknownst to Rachel, her father plan for her to have a season. Rachel has no hopes of finding a good match among the ton even though her father has fully acknowledged her. You see, her mother is a famed courtesan who now owns the very popular and successful gaming hell and brothel called the Queen of Hearts. If the ton ever found out who her mother is, they’d shun her totally. Rachel believes she’ll just remain unmarried and become a spinster. But then fate intervenes, in the guise of Julia Comber.

Mark Merriweather is the younger son of an earl and his older brother has already married and sired an heir. Mark doesn’t have to worry about inheriting the earldom and he plans to lead a productive life. He has an inheritance and doesn’t have to worry about working at anything if he doesn’t want to do so, but he does. He has purchased a public house, The Three Bells, in Westminster and fully plans to run it himself. It never occurs to him that he is in need of a wife – he only knows he’s in need of a bookkeeper and a cook for the public house. Then, there is a visit with Julia Comber and the rest is history.

It was fun to see these two couples come together. Each of them perfectly complemented their partner and filled the voids they each had. In this story, we got two romances, lots of found money, families who loved each other, and a bit of intrigue with counterfeiters. I hope you’ll read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

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

A Rogue to Ruin by Darcy Burke

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

A Rogue to Ruin (The Pretenders #3)A Rogue to Ruin by Darcy Burke

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Pretenders, #3

Release Date: February 23, 2021

When Anne Pemberton and Rafe Blackwell meet by chance at Hatchard’s bookstore and though they do not reveal their true identities and instead call each other Lord Bodyguard and Mrs. Dazzling, a friendship forms. They spend several afternoons together before Anne doesn’t show up and it would appear their time together is over. But fate isn’t done with them yet and months later when their paths cross again and they will learn how intertwined their lives really are!

Anne, who lives with her sister Jane, Viscountess Colton, stopped meeting Rafe when she became betrothed, a mistake she deeply regrets that ended badly when her groom is arrested for extortion at their wedding. Since then Anne has been laying low and is beyond shocked and elated when she encounters Rafe in her sister’s home – apparently meeting with her brother-in-law Anthony. Rafe is just as surprised to see her – he had no idea she was Anthony’s sister-in-law. He had just come to call in a favor.

Rafe Blackwell is a man with a checkered past filled with heartbreak, violence, secrets, and lies. He is a man who has reinvented himself several times over, and a man desperate to learn the truth of his actual identity. Kidnapped at a young age, Rafe doesn’t remember where he lived before a fire claimed his parents and he ended up in London, living the life of a criminal, but he knows that is not the life he was born into. When he learns of an estate that is eerily similar to his memories, he calls in a favor from a former client of his moneylending days as the “Vicar”. When he asks Anthony to get him invited to the Earl of Stone’s estate, he has no idea how much this simple request is going to change his life.

As fate would have it, Anne is the Earl of Stone’s goddaughter and she attends the same picnic at the estate as Rafe does and finds a way to get him alone – Rafe warns her again, that he is not the man she thinks he is and that they have no future together. But Anne isn’t ready to give up on Rafe, and when the party is moved into the house and the housekeeper recognizes Rafe and his sister Selina as the children of the previous Earl of Stone – she is more determined than ever to help him take his rightful place, even though it will displace her beloved godfather. At first, Rafe tries to push Anne away but soon tells himself he needs her to help him claim his birthright, all the while, he still denies any deeper feelings and instead continues to cling to the memory of his love for his late wife. With his uncle admitting that Rafe is his long-lost nephew, it seems like things will be easily cut and dried, but claiming his birthright will not be simple, and many, many dark secrets from both sides of the claim will come to light and Anne will find herself caught in the middle of two men she loves.

This was a very well-written, fast-paced, entertaining, and interesting story. To readers of the series, the mystery of what happened to Rafe and Selina is finally solved, and the how and why of the dark tale are fascinating and well laid out. Readers of The Spitfire Society and The Untouchables series will be thrilled to catch up with several former characters and will be delighted with how neatly Ms. Burke was able to incorporate so many beloved characters into this story without detracting from Anne and Rafe. The book has a lot going for it; wonderful characters, a fascinating mystery, great secondary characters, very steamy love scenes, a villain getting his comeuppance, and finally a well-deserved HEA.

I enjoyed this story, but I did have a couple of things that kept this from being a 5 star read for me, for instance, I felt that Rafe was portrayed as actively “in love” with his late wife and I don’t mean as in he loved her (past tense) and always would, but like still in love with her and unable to love Anne, I felt that this depiction was dragged out for much of the book and then BOOM – he loves Anne. And then there is Anne herself, a wonderful character, but a bit too “Pollyanna” for my taste – I liked her, but she was just a bit too “perfect” to be relatable.

Overall, this was an excellent story and I would happily recommend this book. This book is the third book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone title with no problems.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions are my own *