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

The Trouble with Earls by Anna Campbell

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

The Trouble with Earls (Scoundrels of Mayfair, #2)The Trouble with Earls by Anna Campbell

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Scoundrels of Mayfair, #2

Release Date: October 13, 2022

As the youngest, and in her opinion, the least attractive of the three Frain sisters, Lady Viola Frain is content to read and fade into the background, she certainly doesn’t expect nor does she want to have men falling at her feet, but that is exactly what happened. While reading under a tree in the garden, a man falls from the tree and lands in a heap at her feet. Make that a gorgeous, slightly drunk man who flirts outrageously with her.

Tobias “Toby” Sutton, the Earl of Renfrew, had tagged along with a friend to visit the Frain sisters but realized too late that a lady he is trying to avoid was in attendance – thus his foray into the foliage. He is immediately attracted to Viola and enjoys chatting with her, but when the other ladies find them, he makes a quick escape but manages to secure a dance at an upcoming ball as he is leaving. Now he can’t seem to get the pretty bluestocking out of his mind and pushes the boundaries to spend more time with her. But when a turn in the garden ends with them betrothed, he knows she is too good for the likes of him and worries that he is going to ruin her life. Will they find their way to HEA or is heartache inevitable?

OK – I am going to go fangirl gushy – Sorry, Not Sorry – OMG – I loved this book so much, I loved Viola’s positivity and her no-nonsense approach to problems, and I loved Toby’s gentle heart and his desire to make her happy. I loved that they boosted each other’s esteem and didn’t shy away from their problems. The book is well-written and nicely paced with a bit of everything: instant attraction, a tormented hero, a gloomy castle, great secondary characters, steamy love scenes, wonderful dialogue, leads that face their problems head-on, a lovely declaration scene leading to their HEA and an absolutely stunning epilogue set nearly 25 years later! This is the second book in the series, but this book could easily be read as a standalone title. I highly recommend this story, I can’t even remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much, it is definitely a keeper!

*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.*

Some Dukes Have All the Luck by Christina Britton

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Some Dukes Have All the Luck (Synneful Spinsters, #1)Barbara’s rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Series: Synneful Spinsters #1
Publication Date: 11/8/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 343

I enjoyed this author’s previous series, Isle of Synne, where we met our current heroine in the final book. Miss Bronwyn Pickering is a Naturalist who specializes in Entomology. Her selfish, social climbing, overbearing parents aren’t enamored with her bookish ways and are bent on marrying her off to a titled gentleman. Bronwyn has spent years studying, analyzing, and collecting data – she’s even discovered a previously unknown beetle and she dreams of writing a scientific paper about it. That dream comes to a crashing end when her cruel parents went into her rooms, took all of her specimens, research notebooks, written papers, instruments, etc., and smashed them – then threw them all out. The only bright spot left in her life is her friends who collectively refer to themselves as The Oddments. Her parents have also just told her she will not be allowed to associate with those ladies anymore. According to her parents, her only goal in life is to make herself into the perfect lady in order to attract a titled gentleman.

Ash Hawkins, Duke of Buckley, had a horrendous home life as a child. Nobody was spared his father’s wrath – not his wife, not his son, not the servants, not even the children on the estate. He dealt wounding and killing blows with both his fists and his words. Everyone knew of his father’s reputation and took great delight in taking it out on Ash when he was away at school. As an adult, Ash knows he can’t afford to love anyone – he’ll taint anyone who is close to him – so when he ends up with three young wards he is at a total loss in how to handle them. He hires governess after governess and the wards just run them off. Then, the two youngest wards run off as well.

Ash is sorely in need of someone to raise his wards and when he discovers that the two younger ones have befriended Bronwyn Pickering, he proposes not ten minutes after meeting her. Bronwyn is sorely in need of liberation from her parents, so a marriage in name only would work for both of them. Until it doesn’t, of course.

This was a nice read – thus the three stars – but it just didn’t resonate with me personally. I didn’t buy the chemistry between Bronwyn and Ash and, more to the issue, I think I am just done with protagonists (particularly the males) who take on the sins of their fathers. I have read several of these – my father was a brute, therefore I am a brute – stories lately and I am just tired of them. So, while this was a perfectly nice story, it just didn’t reach out and pull me in. If you decide to give the book a try, I hope you will love it.

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

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