Lady Violet Attends a Wedding by Grace Burrowes

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

Lady Violet Attends a Wedding (The Lady Violet Mysteries, #2)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: The Lady Violet Mysteries #2
Publication Date: 2/22/22 (First Published 11/25/21
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 245

We still don’t have a resolution to the love triangle in the series, so that aspect of the book troubles me. I love a romance in my historical mysteries, and I’m sure this will have one – eventually. After all, it is a Grace Burrowes book and she writes superb romances. However, I don’t care for triangles and really wanted a quick resolution. I must say though, it is written very well. It isn’t one of those triangles where the men are constantly at odds and argumentative. Instead, they seem to have formed a bit of a friendship and are both bent on protecting and looking out for Violet. I like that and I hate that – because one of them is going to be really hurt. But, maybe our intrepid author will handle that one with aplomb as well.

Lady Violet Belmaine has not dealt well with her widowhood – not that she was a happily married lady. She just had trouble dealing with it all, but thanks to the ministrations of Dr. Hugh St. Sevier she’s beginning to come out of hiding. She recently attended a house party and now she is on the way to attend her youngest brother’s wedding. It is hard to believe her sweet brother, Felix, is marrying. However, an accident as they arrive at the estate nearly takes Violet’s life and puts her out of commission for a little while. Luckily, her traveling companion, Hugh, manages to pull her from the raging waters and then treat her injuries.

Dr. Hugh St. Sevier is a French émigré who served with the English in the wars against Napoleon. It hurt him beyond belief to serve against his countrymen, but he couldn’t support Napoleon. As a physician in the wars, he did his best to heal soldiers from both sides even though each side mistrusted him. He is also totally besotted with Violet.

Sebastian, Marquess of Dunkeld was a Colonel in the English army – a war hero. He also had a history with Violet. Sebastian was totally besotted with Violet and asked her father if he could court her. Her father refused – and did even worse – he belittled Sebastian and told him Violet did as well. Violet wasn’t aware that her friend had asked to court her – she would have welcomed it – but she was never given the chance.

Felix is entirely besotted with his bride-to-be, Katie Engle, and she is entirely besotted with him. That should certainly mean many years of happiness in their future. However, they must manage to marry first, and fate seems to be conspiring against them. Something must be amiss with the Engle finances because her father has yet to show up to discuss the marriage settlements. Then, the worst thing of all: Katie goes missing! No, she didn’t get cold feet and run away, she is well and truly missing. England’s weather has conspired to make searching nearly impossible and if Katie is exposed to the elements, she may not survive.

Will they find Katie? Will her parents finally show up to sign the marriage settlements? You’ll just have to read the book to find out. I can definitely recommend it as it is a lovely read.

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The Scoundrel Falls Hard by Sophie Jordan

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

The Scoundrel Falls Hard (The Duke Hunt #3)The Scoundrel Falls Hard by Sophie Jordan

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Duke Hunt, #3

Release Date: August 23, 2022

The last thing Gwen Cully expected when she went to work in her smith that day was to save a conman from being hanged and then end up betrothed to him – but that’s exactly what happened! Gwen was working in her smith when the man she knew to be the scoundrel impersonating the Duke of Penning’s heir entered and begged her to hide him from the angry mob chasing him. She thought he was exaggerating, but when she sees the townsfolk baring down on them, she lets him hide. Unfortunately for him, someone comes into the smith and sees him and he is dragged away. With the townsfolk intent on hanging him!

Kellan Fox knows what he did was wrong and to be honest, he is tired of his nomadic life, but he made a deathbed promise to his mother to watch over his father and has felt duty-bound to keep his word. But this is the last straw, his father scammed the people of the town into believing that he was the long-lost Duke of Penning and that Kellan was his heir, but when his con was exposed, he took off, leaving Kellan to take the fall. And now with a rope around his neck, it seems like he will indeed pay the price for their sins. But to his surprise, the lovely blacksmith tries to stop the mob from killing him. Going as far as to proclaim her love for him. And it works, sort of…because they end up betrothed to prove that they really love each other.

Gwen and Kellan don’t want to marry, but she knows if she doesn’t marry him, she will be ruined and her business will suffer even more than it has since her father and uncle died. So she suggests a compromise, they marry and spend one year together, in an in-name-only platonic marriage – and then he will be free to leave. Kellan agrees, as he owes her his life, and even offers to help her around the house and the blacksmith shop. It seems like an ideal partnership until it becomes clear that the platonic part is going to be harder to adhere to than either of them thought. Is it possible that this relationship built on a lie could be a love match? Can Gwen trust him or is Kellan just playing her for a fool?

This was a fun, fast-paced story with extremely likable characters and a fresh twist on the marriage of convenience trope. This story has witty banter, believable character development, a marriage of convenience, lies, dodgy relatives, a bully, great secondary characters, trust issues, steamy love scenes, and finally a very lovely HEA complete with an epilogue. This is the third book in the series, but they are very loosely connected and can easily be read as standalone titles. I enjoyed this story and would happily recommend this title.

*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.*