The Viscount Who Vexed Me by Julia London

On By TracyIn Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Viscount Who Vexed Me (A Royal Match #3)The Viscount Who Vexed Me by Julia London

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: A Royal Match, #3

Release Date: May 23, 2023

After attending the Iddesleigh School of Exceptional Girls as a scholarship student, Miss Harriet “Hattie” Woodchurch started working right away, she worked as a bookkeeper to a local confectioner and acted as a companion of sorts to a former classmate and friend Miss Flora Raney, daughter of Viscount Raney. Hattie’s own family is a source of annoyance and embarrassment to her, her father is a wealthy man who is cheap and refuses to spend money on his only daughter, yet her mother is a compulsive collector, who has filled their modest home with grandfather clocks, tea services, and dress forms, and cats. Her older brother Daniel is a rake with a terrible reputation and her younger twin brothers are troublemakers. She began working in hopes of one day escaping her family, but that was before she met Rupert Masterson, her secret fiancé, now she plans to marry him and leave her family to become his partner in all things, including his business. So when her friend Flora mentions the arrival of the Santiavan duke to London to claim his English grandfather’s title of Viscount Abbott and settle his estates, and most likely selecting an English wife, she is not overly interested, that is until Flora breaks some bad news to her. Rupert asked Flora to have Hattie jilt him as he can’t marry into her family. Horrified, humiliated, and hurt, Hattie tries to act as if this news hasn’t broken her heart. Now more than ever she needs to get away from her family. So when Lord Iddesleigh invites her to tea and offers her a job working as a secretary to the new Lord Abbott, she is happy to accept. But Lord Abbott is not what she was expecting, he is stoic, reserved, and drop-dead gorgeous, it is enough to make a girl wish for things that can never be. They form a friendship, which makes things harder when it becomes clear that Flora is one of the women he is courting, and Flora wants her “insider” help in winning his proposal.

Mateo “Teo” Vincente, the sovereign Duke of Santiava and now the English Viscount Abbott, is having a hard time settling his grandfather’s estate, because although his spoken English is flawless, reading the language is not that easy for him, thus the need for a scribe. But Hattie is not what was expecting, she is vibrant, intelligent, and sticks up for herself – not to mention she gets prettier each time he sees her. Socializing is torture for him, but Hattie is like a port in the storm, helping him find a bit of calm. He becomes comfortable with her and shares his interest in baking and astronomy with her and a friendship is born. But soon it is clear that the only woman he wants to marry is the one woman he can’t or can he?

This was a terrific story with very likable characters, although I have to say that I don’t think I have ever felt as bad as I did for any heroine before Hattie – how she didn’t have a breakdown is beyond me, because each time I thought, this is as bad as it is going to get, it got worse and she was handed more pain and/or humiliation. I can’t think of a heroine who deserved a HEA more than Hattie, and let me tell you, she worked for it. This story is filled with emotion and features a much-beleaguered heroine, a shy, stoic hero, truly awful relatives, a well-meaning matchmaker, good friends, bad friends, surprising betrayals, warm kisses, twists and turns aplenty, and finally, a HEA that you didn’t even see coming. The story is not perfect and to enjoy the story, I had to force myself to accept the author’s convoluted version of primogeniture in regards to inheritance through the female line, as well as ignoring the fact that he is a sovereign duke but is addressed as my lord – since he is an English Viscount and is in England – cringe. I also would have liked a bit more steam, but that’s just my preference and the story is fine without it. This is the third book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title. Overall, it was an enjoyable read that I am happy to recommend, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

*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.*

Cinderella’s Deal With The Colonel by Jenni Fletcher

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

Cinderella's Deal With The Colonel (Mills & Boon Historical)Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: 5/25/23
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 268

I loved everything about this delightfully entertaining, witty, romantic book! I do mean everything – from the author’s note in the front – which I totally LOVED and agree with – to the preview of an upcoming book by another author at the end. Sandwiched between the author’s note and the preview was a lovely story of romance, growth, and learning what it really means to be a family. With most books, I seem to love one of the main characters, but only like the other. Not in this book, I was enamored with both of the MCs from the first and could hardly wait for them to get their HEA – which they most definitely did. While this appears to be a standalone book, I could easily see a second book where the current Marquess (can I say dies) and Sabrina finds a true HEA for herself. Yes, that would be a satisfying story to read.

Colonel Lord Theodore Marshall, a hero of the recent wars, had sold his commission and was going to go to America. Though he had no love for his home and family, he decided to pay a brief visit before his departure. His mistake? He sent word he was coming. When he arrived he found his brother had mired the marquessate in scandal and financial ruin and then run away. He just disappeared – and now, Theo was left to clean up the mess because as a man of honor, he couldn’t do anything else. He. Was. Stuck. He had a termagant of a sister-in-law to contend with, massive amounts of debts, piles of paperwork, and, well, just more than one man ought to have to handle when it wasn’t his mess in the first place. Perhaps the worst was the scandal his brother had created when his investment scheme went belly up and caused several people in the ton (and out of it) to lose massive amounts of money. How could Theo ever make any of that right?

Miss Abigail Lemon has had the absolute worst month of her short twenty-two years of existence. Her father died of a heart attack and as an only child, she was left totally alone to make all of the arrangements. Then, another blow at the reading of the will when she found there was no money for her, the banks were taking her home, and she had no place to even lay her head. The final blow, the one that did her in and stiffened her spine at the same time, was when her betrothed, the man who said he loved her and would always stand beside her, quickly let her know that without her dowry, they couldn’t marry.

During that one awful day of the reading of the will and Henry’s betrayal, she also learned the cause of the loss of her father’s fortune. He’d invested in a building venture headed by the Marquess of Salway. Well! She had worked herself into a total temper and proceeded to march to the Marquess’ home and to tell him exactly what she thought of him and that he owed her at least a recommendation for a place to work – something that would put food in her belly and a pillow under her head at night. When she was quite through with her tirade, the man politely told her that he was not the Marquess, but his brother – and that the Marquess had left the country.

OMGoodness! Abigail’s despair was palpable as she left. What would happen to her? Where would she go? What would she do? Theo’s need to help and Abigail’s need for a place to live and income led them to a workable solution. What neither of them wanted nor expected was an attraction – but it was there and it was such a delight to watch them work together to solve the problems of the estate, form a friendship, and learn to care for each other.

You’ll love the secondary characters – especially Kitchen, and Lady, the dog. I came to really like Sabrina, the marchioness. It was nice to watch her grow from a total mean-spirited shrew into someone who was a caring mother and friend. So, yes, I would like to see Sabrina get her own HEA.

I can definitely recommend this book and I hope you will love it as much as I did.

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

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