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 Heiress’s Daughter by Anne Gracie

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's Reviews3 Comments

The Heiress's Daughter (The Brides of Bellaire Gardens #3)The Heiress’s Daughter by Anne Gracie

Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Brides of Bellaire Gardens, #3

Release Date: May 21, 2024

With her sister Izzy on her honeymoon, heiress Clarissa Studley is going to have to face the season with just her marriage-minded chaperone for support. Clarissa’s father was an awful man who was unforgivably cruel to both Clarissa and her mother, having affair after affair and belittling them both to point that Clarissa is sure that no man would ever want more than her fortune. So, when her brother-in-law, Leo’s best friend Lord Randall “Race” begins to show an interest in her, she is sure he is only pretending to like her as a favor to Leo, after all he is gorgeous and a known rake, why would he want a plump, plain country girl like her? Besides, she has bigger things to consider, like the possibility of another sister! But Race doesn’t seem to be giving up and now she has another suitor who is also showing serious intentions. Too bad he doesn’t make her heart beat faster like Race does, but if life with her father taught her anything it is that you can never trust a rake.

Horatio “Race”, Lord Randall may have a reputation as a rake, but it is exaggerated and worked to his advantage before he wanted find a wife. But now it seems that his legendary charm is failing him, because the first and only woman he has ever wanted to marry is doing her utmost to avoid him! He will have to find a way to prove to her that his love is real or risk losing her to the wrong man!

This was a very sweet story but was not as cohesive as I have come to expect from Ms. Gracie. Race and Clarissa are wonderful characters and I wanted to love their journey to HEA, but sadly, the story just seemed to drag and began to feel repetitious. It also had elements that just seemed as if they were added to act as a filler. This book has a very slow-burn romance, feelings of inadequacy, sneaky suitors, surprise relatives, very low-steam love scenes, wonderful secondary characters, and finally a well-earned HEA. I liked this book, but it felt like it would have been better as a novella, as Clarissa’s self-doubts and insecurities just went on way too long and stalled the progress of the story. Overall, it was not a bad book, but not the story I was hoping for. I would recommend it for readers who have been following the series or readers who prefer a lower steam romance. This is the third book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title.

3 maybe 3.5 stars

*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. *

Murder of a Dead Man by Holly Newman

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

Murder of a Dead Man (A Chance Inquiry Book 4)Barbara’s rating: 3.8 out of 5 Stars
Series: A Chance Inquiry #4
Publication Date: 5/28/24
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 264

While this is the fourth book of the series, it is my first and it is my first by this author. It was well-written and well-paced with the mystery and its clues dribbled out at just the right frequency. It turns out to have been quite a conspiracy – and you’ll wonder throughout the book if it is one perpetrator or many. You won’t have any trouble making the list of possible villains – it is just a matter of who you choose from that list. I enjoyed this book well enough that I have already purchased the first book in the series so I can begin reading from the beginning. Hopefully, I will have read them all before the next book’s release.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the portrayal of the victim. Normally, I don’t want to know much about the victim other than hearing it in passing because I don’t want to become emotionally involved with them. However, that wasn’t the case with this story and I appreciated that – just this once. Our victim was a good man, a loving man, but he suffered from a mental health issue that once was called Multiple Personality Disorder. Yes, it truly is a real thing, but I’ve not normally seen the sufferer portrayed in a positive light. Usually, it is that some dastardly personality takes over and does dastardly things leaving the ‘normal’ personality to take the blame – for instance, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. While we never learn what caused Malcolm’s personality to split into multiples, there is enough story for you to make a good guess. Anyway, I came to admire the victim and was very sorry that he died.

As children Lilias, Malcolm, and Alastair spent their summers playing together in Scotland. Then, as they grew up, Lilias and Alastair fell in love and wanted to marry, but her father refused because Alastair wasn’t ‘Scottish’ enough and he made arrangements for Lilias to marry Malcolm. Lilias loved Malcolm – as a friend – and they had a long and reasonably happy marriage despite Malcolm’s mental issues. However, an event happened, and it made Malcolm feel it was unsafe for him to be around his family. Malcolm checked himself into a sanitorium where, after a few years, Lilias received word that Malcolm had killed himself. Then, imagine her surprise and dismay, when after two years of mourning she announces to the family that she is going to marry Alastair – only to be told she couldn’t do that because Malcolm wasn’t dead. OOPS! Then, he really was dead and Alastair was arrested for murder. OOPS!

I really enjoyed Sir James Branstoke and his wife Cecilia Branstoke. Their camaraderie, love, consideration, and working relationship were well-defined since it was the fourth book in the series and it was fun to see them work together. When they were asked to investigate Malcolm’s death to find the real killer and set Alastair free, they decided to use a two-pronged attack. Because Cecilia was still recovering from a serious case of influenza that had swept through their village – and she was expecting their first child – they determined to check Cecilia into the sanitorium. That would allow her to investigate from the inside while James investigated things from the outside. As the clues add up, we meet some interesting ladies within the sanitorium. They are bright, mischievous, full of energy, and the only reason they are in the sanitorium is because that is where they want to be. With those ladies involved, the villains never stand a chance.

I’m always looking for new and new-to-me authors and I may have found one to add to my go-to list. The plot is well-developed and the presentation is good. It was a fun read and I’ll definitely read the first book in the series to see how that goes. I hope it will have a tad more action and excitement than this one. Overall this was a nice read. I will say that I probably would have rated it higher had the book not pretty much ignored the Privilege of Peerage laws.

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