Category: Regency Era (1811-1820)

The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of George III in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV. The term Regency can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811–1820.
Preceded by: Georgian era
Followed by: Victorian era
Monarch: George III, George IV, William IV

A Wicked Game by Kate Bateman

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

A Wicked Game (Ruthless Rivals, #3)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Ruthless Rivals #3
Publication Date: 12/27/22
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 304

If you love snappy banter, witty characters, and a deep abiding love both characters have kept hidden for years, then you’ll love this book. The Montgomery and Davies families have been in a feud for centuries. While the earlier family members kidnapped each other, stole from each other, and saw to each other’s demise, the current family members’ enmity is of a much more benign nature. Shux – the feud might even be considered over since two couples of the feuding families have married each other. Now, could there possibly be a third?

Harriet Montgomery and Morgan Davies have been challenging each other, daring each other, and besting each other since they were children. They’ve also secretly loved each other for that long as well. They each know nothing could come of it because they are sure the other sees them as nothing more than an enemy to taunt and challenge.

Growing to adulthood has a way of changing things for us – and that is certainly what happened with Morgan. As he grew to adulthood, he knew he loved Harriet – and after his experiences in the war, he knew he’d do what it took to make her realize she loved him too.

Morgan certainly put his training in battle strategies to good use in wooing and winning Harriet, but it was a near thing. Not that she didn’t love him – she did. It was that she was always looking for his ulterior motive. What did he have up his sleeve? What trick was he playing?

Harriet was vehemently opposed to marriage to a sailor. She wanted a husband who would be home and sharing her life every day and not just occasionally when he was home from the sea. How will Morgan get past that? His solution is perfect and I know you’ll love it.

So, why didn’t I rate it a 5-star read like I did the first two books? That is a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try. I was looking for more adventure – more excitement – more villains out to wreak havoc, etc. Harriet wanted adventure and I wanted her to have it, but it just didn’t materialize. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful romance, it just wasn’t an exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-chair kind of adventure on the way to the romance. I know it couldn’t be like the first book of the series – now THAT was adventure and romance. No, we couldn’t have them trapped in underground tunnels while being chased by smugglers and discovering gold – but gosh – we could have more than some nut with a gun covering just a few short pages.

I loved the story and you couldn’t ask for a more enticing, romantic lead character than Morgan. He was witty, handsome, caring, honorable, intelligent – I mean – goodness – what isn’t to love about him? The same goes for Harriet. I loved her spunk, her wit, her intelligence – and she was exactly perfect for Morgan. They totally complemented each other in every way. I hope you’ll love the story as much as I did. Now – we’re going to have to wait for Rhys, the last Davies male standing, to find his Montgomery love. Can’t wait!

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

View all my reviews

The Mistletoe Temptation by Eve Pendle

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

The Mistletoe Temptation: A Regency Christmas Romance (Faking Stitch Book 2)The Mistletoe Temptation: A Regency Christmas Romance by Eve Pendle

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Faking Stitch, #2

Release Date: December 21, 2022

Miss Geraldine “Gina” Bains is an expert at dissuading suitors right under her mother’s nose. Gina is months away from inheriting a fortune from her late father and has big plans to travel the world and those plans don’t include a husband! But despite her subtle tricks to ward off potential husbands, her mother is pushing her even harder to wed and has practically every minute of her day booked with instruction in womanly accomplishments, all of which she hates, save her embroidery “lessons”. So she is shocked when her brother’s best friend, Emmett Stanton sees through her ruse and blackmails her.

Emmett Stanton, son, and heir to the Earl of Hapthorpe had been dreading his promise to his best friend Marmaduke “Duke” Bains to dance with his younger sister, but when he sees Gina he is stunned and smitten. He claims his dance and soon figures out her scheme and thwarts her, much to her surprise, but it isn’t until she dances with someone else and runs out of the ballroom in tears that a plan forms and he gets her to agree to a temporary engagement. She agrees and they will act like the loving couple until she turns 21 on Christmas day, but makes it clear that there will be nothing more between them, especially no kissing, he agrees to only kiss her if she asks him to, to which she scoffs and makes it clear that will never happen and she will be breaking their “engagement” just as soon as she can, but Emmett has already decided that Gina is the perfect woman for him and plans to convince her to marry him, starting by tempting her into kissing him.

What a fun read, Gina and Emmett were such delightful characters that it was easy to root for their HEA. The book is filled with wonderful characters, secrets, lies, ulterior motives, spicy love scenes, a bit of heartache, compromises and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue (and an extended epilogue when you sign up for the author’s newsletter). This novella is part of the Faking Stitch series, but you can absolutely read them out of order. Note – This was previously published in the Twelve Lords for Yuletide anthology.

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