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 Lady Makes Her Mark by Susanna Craig

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

The Lady Makes Her Mark (Goode's Guide to Misconduct #3)The Lady Makes Her Mark by Susanna Craig

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Goode’s Guide to Misconduct, #3

Release Date: May 27, 2025

When Constantina Cooper, the artist for “Mrs. Goode’s Magazine for Misses”, receives an anonymous letter demanding her attendance of a staff meeting in an unknown hand, she is sure that she has been found out and knows it is time to move on. She goes to the meeting on the off chance that Lady Stalbridge, the magazine’s editor, has hired a new secretary. But that hope is crushed almost immediately when Lady Stalbridge arrives just as bewildered as everyone else. Certain that she is the reason for the odd letters, she bolts and plans to leave London, that plan is also crushed when she collides with a carriage and is knocked unconscious. When she wakes, she is the home of the Earl of Ryland – a man she regularly features in her “What Miss C. Saw” aka “the Unfashionable Plates” cartoons for the magazine. The earl knows who she is and is in the process of leaving London, so she feigns amnesia to enlist his help. But she never expected to fall in love with him or his family, but as a penniless nobody, she has nothing to offer him except the possibility of danger thanks to her family. A possibility that soon becomes reality and may separate them forever.

Alistair Haythorne, the Earl of Ryland is broke and has rented out his London townhouse, so he is in the process of packing up to retire to his country estate with his sisters when a commotion outside draws his attention. He immediately recognizes Constantina and summons help for her. He knows her connection to the magazine and contacts Lady Stalbridge, who informs him that she believes Constantina might be in danger – thus triggering Alistair’s protective instincts. He offers to take her with him and to protect her until she regains her memory. He has always been attracted to her and intrigued by her, but he doesn’t have the luxury of indulging his own desires. His father left the estate in debt and with seven sisters to provide for, he will have to marry for money, which makes his feelings for Constantina inconvenient. An inconvenience that becomes almost unbearable when he asks his aunt to find him a rich bride and she hires Constantina to paint his portrait. Forced to spend time with her, his feelings deepen and soon he doesn’t know how he can live without her. But when her life is in danger, he knows there is no way he can let her walk away.

This installment of Goode’s Guide to Misconduct is a well-written, nicely paced story with very likable characters and a bit of intrigue. This book has a lot going on but manages to stay on track remains primarily a romance with some mystery to keep things interesting. The book held my interest with an artistic heroine with a mysterious background, an impoverished hero with a heart of gold, wonderful secondary characters, a road trip, faked amnesia, lurking danger, warm love scenes, shocking revelations and finally a seemingly impossible HEA. I enjoyed this story and would happily recommend it to my fellow HR readers. This is the 3rd book in the series, but it could easily 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/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

A Touch of Steele by Cathy Maxwell

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

A Touch of Steele (The Gambler's Daughters, #3)

Barbara’s rating: 3.6
Series: The Gambler’s Daughters #3
Publication Date: 5/27/25
Period: Regency – 1816
Number of Pages: 365

This book has one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a very long time. “He’d asked for the oldest whore in the house.” That certainly gets your attention. I did enjoy Beckett (Beck) Steele and Gwendolyn Lanscarr, but they were the only characters I even remotely liked. With a spectacular opening line and a dissatisfying finish, this book was all over the place for me. I loved the gist of the story, but I found it a tad slow and found myself putting it down much more often than I normally do with a book I’m reading. Perhaps that was me, and I was just more distracted. Not sure, but I felt there could have been more exciting things happening.

Beckett Steele is a war hero who ‘helps’ people. Often, that means finding things or people for them. Those tasks are quite lucrative, but he often declines money and asks them to grant him a favor at a future time when he asks. Usually, those favors are asked in furtherance of a personal pursuit – finding his mother. He’s sure she is a light-skirt because he’d lived in a bawdy house until a man came and put him in a boarding school. After being injured in the wars, Beck was determined to find out what happened to his mother. Is she alive? Is the woman in his dreams his mother?

Gwendolyn is one of three Irish sisters who pooled all of their resources to travel to London, participate in the season, and find suitable husbands. The two previous books in the series showed Gwendolyn’s sisters finding their HEAs. Gwendolyn met a man in Ireland, who has consumed all of her thoughts since. He helped her win enough money playing Whist so she and her sisters could implement their plan. All he asked in return was a favor to be granted at some future time.

I enjoyed that Gwendolyn made no secret of her fixation on Beck – and that he was thoroughly convinced he had no feelings for Gwendolyn. Watching the attraction grow, and watching Beck wrestle with those pesky ‘feelings’ he kept having, made the search for Beck’s mother an enjoyable read. I would have liked a bit more excitement and a slightly faster pace, but it was a nice read. One of the things that dampened my enthusiasm was that none (save one) of the villains got any punishment at all. If you look at what they did, could you just walk away and leave them unpunished? I couldn’t. But – that was followed by the HEA, and I did enjoy that.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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