Hardly a Gentleman by Eloisa James

Tracy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Accidental Brides, #2

Release Date: April 29, 2025

For years, Prince George has pursued, harassed and humiliated Miss Clara Vetry making her social life a nightmare, but all that comes to a shocking end at a garden party in which Clara is pushed beyond her tolerance and she does the unthinkable, she hits the prince with her reticule. Her horrified mother decides to wash her hands of Clara, she sends her to live with a distant cousin and giving her control of her dowry. But while waiting for the carriage her mother hired, Clara decides to take control of her own future and enters a carriage bound for the highlands, claiming to be Mrs. Potts, the housekeeper the driver, Mr. Cobbledick was waiting for, never imagining how this would change her life. She arrives at Castle CaerLaven and is enchanted, she heads inside ready to assume the position of housekeeper, until she sees the state of the dwelling. She then decides that she will wait for Mr. Cobbledick to return from picking up his daughter and convince him to take her away – she will find her own castle and fill it with books and live happily ever after. As the castle seems abandoned, so she goes looking for the owners to inform them she is not staying, and she finds a very naked Caelan MacCrae, Laird of CaerLaven fishing in the loch. They return to the castle and Clara is even more horrified by the kitchen and makes it clear she isn’t staying. Convinced Caelan has let his house fall into disrepair because his is grieving for his late wife, whom everyone has told her is the love of his life. She agrees to stay for a few days and recruits help to clean the castle. Falling in love was never part of the plan, especially to a man who is still in love with his dead wife! When he proposes, she declines, but when her identity is uncovered, she doesn’t have a choice – but is determined not to lose her heart to a man who has sworn to never fall in love again.

Caelan MacCrae, Laird of CaerLaven is perfectly happy living alone in his castle, fishing, making whisky, writing books about fishing and whisky and improving his tenant’s lives. It is his sister Fiona who has decided he needs a housekeeper from England and informs him she is on her way. Everyone believes that Caelan is heartbroken and that the state of his castle is a reflection of that grief – but that isn’t quite right. When Clara arrives and starts bringing the castle back to life, Caelan who was at first was opposed to a housekeeper, is determined to keep her. Too bad she keeps saying no to his proposals – especially since he has everything she wants – A castle and books! When her true identity is revealed, Caelan is ecstatic that she will have to marry him and is sure they can be happy together, as long as she doesn’t want more than he is able to give.

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! It was the perfect book to segue into my spring reading, it was a fun well-written, nicely paced story with wonderful characters. I loved Clara and Caelan together, they have both had pain in their lives, but they don’t lock themselves away, instead they find new joy. This book has a bit of a grumpy/sunshine trope, amazing characters, steamyish love scenes, witty banter, laugh out loud moments, fabulous secondary characters; including a “rabbity chicken”, naked fishing, a dramatic rescue and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue. The book does touch on grief, loss of a loved one, and sexual abuse/harassment – but I felt like these subjects were handed respectfully and compassionately with plenty of levity to keep this book from becoming a dark read. This is the second book in the series, but they are very loosely connected and can definitely be read as standalone titles with no problems. Overall, if you are looking for your next favorite book – this is that book, which I happily and highly recommend to my fellow HR readers and can’t wait for the next installment in this outstanding 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. *