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 Gentleman of Unreliable Honor by Grace Burrowes

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

A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (The Lord Julian Mysteries #6)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: The Lord Julian Mysteries #6
Publication Date: 9/11/24
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 288

It is NOT a good time for Lord Julian to receive a summons to solve a mystery. His only surviving brother’s imminent departure for the continent means he wants/needs to spend that time with him. What if he decides not to return to England? While his brother is away, Julian has to run all Waltham ducal matters and Julian needs to be learning that – not solving mysteries. Except, it is his mother who has summoned him – the mother who doesn’t like him – but still, his mother, so he goes.

When he arrived he learned his mother was missing several old love letters – that were not from his father. He also learned that several other items of sentimental value are missing from other ladies attending the house party. These are all items the ladies received after they were widows, but each was from an inappropriate partner and thus could cause a scandal or gossip for the ladies. Julian immediately assumes the items will be used for blackmail – but when no demands are received, he has to reevaluate. What could anyone other than a blackmailer want with those items?

Julian has a house full of suspects – guests, servants, merchants – anyone with access to the house. Julian, and his stalwart companions – Lady Ophelia, Lady Hyperia, and the ever-delightful Atticus – will interview, search, evaluate, and finally figure out the villain. You will think you know it all as you read – but do you? Can any of them be trusted?

I was glad to see some reconciliation between Julian and his mother, but I was no closer to understanding the rift. However, I wondered if most of it wasn’t due to Juian’s insecurities. One of his thoughts lends credence to that. “I decided that my mother held me in low esteem and then found every piece of evidence necessary to support my conclusion and ignored evidence that did not.” I look forward to future developments with Julian’s mother, Leander (Julian’s nephew), and dukely brother.

I look forward to each new Lord Julian book and was delighted to learn that we will be getting a Christmas book that Julian informed the author she must write. YAY!

The Wallflower List by Jess Michaels

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

The Wallflower List (About An Earl #1)The Wallflower List by Jess Michaels

Tracy’s Rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: About an Earl, #1

Release Date: October 8, 2024

When her best friend and fellow wallflower Lady Claudia dies unexpectedly, Lady Marianne is heartbroken, especially by the small showing at Claudia’s funeral. It sets her to thinking about her own life and when she finds a list of things Claudia wanted to do before she died, she at first shocked and then intrigued. Wanting to honor her friend and live the life her friend so clearly wanted, Marianne sets out to complete the list. And starts by having her maid alter one of her gowns to be more daring, thus accomplishing one of Claudia’s items “Wear Something Daring” and to her complete and utter surprise, this small change triggers a huge change in her life. For the first time she feel “seen” and even garners the attention of her brother’s best friend, Sebastian, the Earl of Ramsbury, a man she has long considered a friend, but one who clearly never saw her as a woman until that night. She asks his help in completing the list (without telling him of the list) and finally admits to herself that what she feels for Sebastian is much more than friendship but knows he will never want a wallflower like her. But that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the attention while she has it.

Sebastian, the Earl of Ramsbury has been friends with Phineas “Finn”, the Earl of Delacourt and his younger sister Marianne for as long as he can remember, they are two of the most important people in his life and he would never do anything to threaten those relationships. But he starts to see Marianne in a new light when she makes a splash at the Brighthollow ball and has to force himself to remember that he promised Finn that he would never seduce his sister. But some promises need to be broken and when he shares a forbidden kiss with Marianne, he is lost and might end up losing everyone he cares about if he can’t control his desire for the only woman he absolutely shouldn’t want.

I liked this book, but it wasn’t really the story I was hoping for, as Marianne turns out to be a sort of Regency era Pollyanna. She was a very nice character – maybe too nice and even with her “daringness” to complete Claudia’s list with things like: Fill my dance card, learn to play billiards, and go to a party uninvited. There was nothing really shocking (save the last item on the list) to my jaded mind. And as much as I love a good “Brother’s Best Friend” trope, this wasn’t quite that, since Sebastian was already legitimately good friends with her, so I think I had a hard time accepting that he never “saw” her until that ball. Anyway, it was a cute story with a bit of drama and some fairly steamy scenes, but I just felt like this could have been so much more than it was, that being said, I did enjoy the book and would happily recommend it. I am also looking forward to reading Finn’s story which is the next book in the series.

*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. *