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 Christmas In Manchester by Callie Hutton

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

A Christmas in ManchesterBarbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: 11/28/22
Period: Regency

Adam, the Duke of Manchester, was robbed and shot by highwaymen. If it hadn’t been for the angel who came driving by on an old farm wagon, he would have died there on that lonely road. He felt guilty for not telling them who he was – that he was a duke, but he didn’t want to make these lovely people feel uncomfortable around him. It turns out the angel who rescued him and was now nursing him, was the daughter of the Rector for that parish, and her mother had stitched him up. They welcomed him into their home and community as he recuperated.

Miss Evelyn (Eve) Allen is the youngest child of Joshua Allen who is the rector of Trinity Church in their small Worcestershire village. At twenty-one, Eve has led a happy, love-filled life working alongside her parents. All of her brothers and sisters have married and moved on, but Eve has just never met anyone who gave her that special feeling. Several men in the village have tried to court her, but she wants what her parents have – and what her brother and sister have found – love.

One of Eve’s tasks was to distribute food and clothing to the needy in the parish and that sometimes made for a very long day. After one such day, she was headed home, tired and hungry, when she was stopped by a man on the road. He’d been shot and was bleeding. She knew if she didn’t help him, he would die. She, with a bit of his help, managed to get him into the wagon so she could take him home and her mother could remove the bullet and stitch him up. From his clothing and speech, she could tell he was a gentleman – most likely an aristocrat – so she addressed him as My Lord. He didn’t correct her, so she assumed he was a lord of some sort.

This book has one of the sweetest, most romantic male leads you’ll ever read. Was he perfect? No, but that is what makes him so human and relatable. He is a very loving, caring man who meets and falls in love with a woman and then moves heaven and earth to make her his. Now, if you are looking for a steamy read, this isn’t it because he is a very honorable man who respects the woman he loves and is mature enough to control his ‘urges’.

I even learned something from reading the book. Yep, I did. Eve’s father was a Rector of a parish and I almost always see Vicar used instead. So, I wondered at the difference and looked it up. Turns out they are NOT interchangeable. Who knew? The difference is in how they are paid and the different Churches they serve. One is the Church of England (Vicar) and the other is the Anglican Church (Rector).

I enjoyed reading this lovely book and I hope you will as well.

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

View all my reviews

My Dearest Duke by Kristin Vayden

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

My Dearest Duke (Cambridge Brotherhood, #2)My Dearest Duke by Kristin Vayden

Tracy’s rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Series: Cambridge Brotherhood, #2

Release Date: November 8, 2022

As a professor of Divinity at Cambridge, Lord Rowles Haywind was happy with his lot in life, but all that changes when his brother is killed along with several others, and Rowles finds himself in a role he isn’t prepared for, the new Duke of Westmore, with not only the responsibilities of the dukedom but also the care of his mother, who is mentally ill and had declined since his brother Robert’s unexpected death. His mother’s care is something he takes seriously and something that worries him, will he be afflicted? Would his children? To be safe, he decides not to marry, but that is before he meets his best friend’s sister, Lady Joan Morgan, and is intrigued, even though he tries his best to keep some distance between them.

Joan is drawn to Rowles, as they not only have an instant intellectual connection but also share a tragic common bond by way of the deaths of their brothers. Joan’s eldest brother died at the same bachelor party as his brother did and her brother Collin “Morgan” became the Earl of Penderdale. Joan and Morgan work for the Home Office, Joan is an expert at detecting forgeries and reading people, but if this ever got out, it would mean scandal and ruin. But as get to know each other and they begin to engage in a lot of deep and theological conversations, she starts to fall for him, and she longs to share her work with him but fears his reaction, and the longer she waits, the harder it is to tell him.

This was not a hit for me, it was a book of missed opportunities, and based on the blurb, I was expecting so much more action and drama, but instead, I got a very sweet, slow-moving story about two people dealing with grief and their journey to healing. This is a slow-burn, no-steam romance with likable characters each with their own issues to overcome. I did notice a lot of reviewers seeming surprised by the Christian undertones in the book, but Rowles was a Professor of Divinity, so I wasn’t really surprised by the references, and I don’t think I would go as far as to label it a “Christian” romance. Overall, the book was not what I was hoping for, it was a slow, and at times boring read. This is the second book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone title.

*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.*