How Not to Chaperon a Lady by Virginia Heath #BlogTour

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How Not to Chaperon a Lady

How Not to Chaperon a Lady

How Not to Chaperon a Lady

His childhood nemesis…is the woman he can’t resist!
Chaperoning Charity Brookes while she’s on a singing tour should be easy for Griffith Philpot—he’s spent his whole life sparring with her over her flighty ways! But as he discovers that she’s much more than the impetuous girl he thought he knew, a passion ignites between them… Sharing a steamy kiss leaves him torn – he’s supposed to be responsible for guarding her virtue!

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The Marquess Author

Author Bio:

When Virginia Heath was a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated, sometimes taking weeks to get to the happy ending. Then one day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Twenty books and two Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations later, and it still takes her forever to fall asleep.
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Tracy’s Review:

How Not to Chaperon a LadyHow Not to Chaperon a Lady by Virginia Heath

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Talk of the Beau Monde,#3

Release Date: September 28, 2021

After years of singing in her opera star mother’s shadow, Charity Brooks is finally getting her due. After a successful run on Drury Lane, Charity agrees to a tour to perform in Northern England and invites her dearest friend Dorothy to join her, but when no family members are available to chaperone, her parents agree to have the son of their long-time family friend’s son and Dorothy’s older brother Griffith Philpot to accompany them as he has business to attend up north, much to Charity’s dismay. Griff, who has been in love with Charity for years, but sure she would never return his affection and therefore avoids her whenever possible.

Likewise, Charity has long harbored a tendre for Griff, but he has always seemed to disapprove of her, leading her to rename him, Gruff Griff, the Fun Spoiler. She is sure he will ruin their trip, not to mention hamper her plans to attend a house party of Lord Denby, the man she is hoping to marry. But much to her surprise, Griff is helpful and considerate during the trip, until the final leg of the journey, when things are said that change everything. And explanations that lead to a night of passion and more hurt feelings. HEA doesn’t seem like a possibility for these two, even though they both love the other…

This book is the final installment of the trilogy and in my opinion the hardest sell of the three from the author to the reader. It is well written and very emotional, but it does stretch the limits of credibility that an opera singer, who is no stranger to gossip and scandal is accepted by the ton and has hopes of marrying the heir to a duke. However, to her credit, Ms. Heath does a very convincing job of showing the reader the fine line Charity walks and that not everyone considers her a “lady”. The book is filled with misunderstandings, erroneous assumptions, a lot of emotion, a shotgun wedding, warm love scenes, and finally a HEA that didn’t seem possible. This is the third and final book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone 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.*

Dukes, Drinks, and Murder by Jennifer Monroe

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

Dukes, Drinks, and Murder (Victoria Parker Regency Mysteries, #1)Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Victoria Parker Regency Mysteries #1
Publication Date: 1/31/21
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 177

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I fully intend to try the second book in the series. I understand her future focus will be on writing Regency romance rather than mysteries and I have not tried reading a romance by her.

Miss Victoria (Vicky) Parker inherited her father’s accounting business, Parker Accounting, several years ago after her father died. The only choices she had was to close the firm or find a male to be the face of the business – because – well – none of their clients would do business with a female. Luckily for her, she has just the perfect person to be the face of the business. James Kensington was her father’s assistant for years and he has been Vicky’s friend for years as well and he had no qualms about stepping up to become the face of the company.

One of the largest and most important clients of their firm is Felton Warwick, the Duke of Everton, and he has always been most cordial when he has been in their offices. However, he is a duke and the Parkers are common business people, so it was a great surprise when Vicky and James received an invitation to spend the weekend at the duke’s country estate about an hour outside London. Vicky frets about the reason for the invitation – is he planning to sever his relationship with their firm? Has he discovered that Vicky is the one in charge? If he knows, will he tell others and will they quit doing business with them?

Upon arrival at the estate, they find there are other guests as well. Besides the residents of the home – the duke, his much younger duchess (Charlotte), his son (George), and his son’s wife (Lavinia), there is Baron William Gerard and Richard Kent who Vicky considers to be vile and outrageous in his behavior. Had Vicky known Richard was going to be in attendance she might have reconsidered attending.

The duke has set appointments to speak with each of his guests and nobody has any idea why – he has only said the meetings are ‘important’. Vicky is very nervous when her appointed time – midnight – arrives. She pushes the door open and greets the duke – who doesn’t respond. She addresses him again and still no response. Then – she realizes he is dead and he has written one word on the paper beneath his hand – BETRAYED! OMGoodness! She doesn’t scream and starts to back out of the room.

I guessed who the perpetrator was almost as soon as the murder happened, so it isn’t too much of a puzzle. Just logic. However, the suspects are all entangled in some sort of other intrigue, affairs, etc. and they all lie and tell half-truths when questioned. It amazed me that it took Vicky so long to put the clues together or to look at the logic of it.

While this book didn’t bowl me over, I will try the next book in the series. I did like James and Vicky and will enjoy seeing where their relationship leads them. I thought the writing was a bit stilted and conversations were stiff. I thought perhaps the author was trying to emulate the more formal speech patterns of the times, but this version seemed more stilted than not. One thing that also bothered me was that George wasn’t immediately recognized as the new duke by the attendees and staff. As soon as his father died, George was the duke and should have been addressed as Your Grace, etc. Yes, the formalities had to be done in London, but he was the duke at that point.

I can recommend the book for a quick read – and if you choose to read it, I hope you enjoy it.

View all my reviews