Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Rogues to Lovers #2
Publication Date: 1/24/23
Period: Regency – Bellehaven Bay, England
Number of Pages: 352

Let me start by telling you I absolutely loved both Poppy and Keane. They were two lovely, caring, honest, up-front people who didn’t know how to be anyone other than themselves. There were no false fronts, no pretending – just love and acceptance along with wonderfully refreshing spirits.

Poppy Summers, a fisherman’s daughter, has been shouldering all the responsibilities for the care of her father and the family business for quite some time now. Very early every morning she arises to begin her day – she takes their rowboat out and casts the nets for the day’s catch; she makes breakfast for her ill father and serves him; she cleans and salts the fish, then takes them to town to sell. They are barely scraping by and scarcely know where the next meal will come from. She has one, just one, place to relax from the stress, so imagine her shock when she approaches her beach one day and finds a dark, handsome man lying lifeless in the surf. He insists he is a duke, but she doesn’t believe that for a minute. A pirate? Maybe. Whatever he is, he isn’t a duke!

Andrew Keane, Duke of Hawking, has been avoiding taking on his responsibilities since he inherited the title. Part of that avoidance included escaping to the lovely beach village of Bellehaven – where someone coshed him over the head and tossed him in the water. After being washed up on the beach, he regained consciousness to see a most delightful angel was there with him. Oops – how can she be an angel when she is challenging everything he says and demanding to know how he came to be on her beach? She asked if he was a pirate who’d fallen overboard for goodness’ sake!

Keane finally convinces Poppy to help him find out who tried to murder him – and to let him stay on her beach while they do. I love how they deal with each other – no doubt – no mistrust – no navel-gazing – just straight-up honesty. I also loved the Epilogue.

So, with all of this, why didn’t I give it 5-stars? I definitely could have based on the characters. However, there were so very many anachronisms and improbabilities that I couldn’t get past them – and, there wasn’t any reason for them to be there. A little research would have given the information to avoid them. Just one example:  In less than twenty-four hours, they made a round-trip to London (100 miles each way – so 200 miles) in a coach that averages about 7-10 MPH, and that trip included hunting down a witness, a visit to Hyde Park, and attending an evening entertainment. I’m not sure I could do that in one of today’s vehicles, much less a horse-drawn carriage. Still, I can recommend this read if anachronisms and improbabilities don’t bother you.

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

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Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Rogues to Lovers #1
Publication Date: 12/28/21
Period: Regency – Bellehaven Bay, England
Number of Pages: 313

This was a very nicely written opener for a new series. The plotting and pacing are well done and I really liked the characters. I will mention that the quick and easy social acceptance between classes is anachronistic. Those characters all add greatly to the story, but I can’t picture the young woman who makes her living by catching and selling fish being invited to a grand ball being given by a countess. That isn’t the only anachronism, it is just the one that was foremost in my mind at the moment.

Hazel Lively was born into a very loving family whose father was a butcher. As the only child, there was love and hugs aplenty. Her father called her ‘his little hazelnut’. Then, at the age of nine, she lost them both (I don’t think we learned how) and she was thrown onto the mercy of the world. It appeared she was headed for the hard life of a foundling home until her lively, brilliant mind, and obsession with books won her a place at Miss Haywinkle’s School For Girls – as a charity student. Now, at the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Hazel has finally brought a long-held dream to reality. She’s moved to Bellhaven Bay and opened the Bellhaven Academy of Deportment. It is her dream to have enough students who can pay for their schooling so she can take on more ‘charity’ students. To be a success in all of that, she knows that she, her school, and even her students must keep their reputations beyond reproach. The slightest touch of scandal could cause parents to begin withdrawing their daughters. So, when an earl approached her about accepting his niece, who was his ward, as a boarding student, she was happy – until she heard the history of this young woman, encountered her attitude, and encountered the attitude of the earl. No, Hazel didn’t think Kitty Beckett would be a good fit for the school. Even when the earl offered to triple the tuition, she didn’t think it would be a good fit. Then, things happened, and she realized Kitty was a tragically lost young woman and needed her help.

Gabriel Beckett (his name was never used in the book, but it was in the blurb), Earl of Bladenton, known as Blade, was stunned to discover he had a niece and that she was now his ward. He and his younger brother had been estranged for many years and Blade had no idea his brother had a fifteen-year-old daughter. He had no idea what to do with a young woman other than put her in a boarding school – so that is what he proceeded to do. Kitty managed to get herself kicked out of school after school after school because of her bad behavior. By the time Blade got around to Bellehaven, he’d exhausted all of his other options and was willing to pay whatever he had to pay in order to get them to accept her – and KEEP her. However, those additional demands the Headmistress put on him – well, he’s not sure he can agree to those. Those demands would interfere too much with his life in London – particularly in his pursuit of Lady Penelope as his wife.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Hazel come to slowly (VERY slowly) realize there was life and happiness outside her school. Then, to see Blade come to realize (less slowly) that the life he was pursuing was a cold and ultimately lonely one and perhaps his chance for true love and happiness wasn’t in London at all.

Kitty was a delight to read. Watching her grow from a lost young lady to one who has opened herself to others, who accepts others, and who has come to truly love her uncle, was truly heartwarming. When Kitty and the other students at the school put their heads together – things happen – some good things, some not so good things – but happen they do.

I can definitely recommend with book and hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did.

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

View all my reviews