The Blackshear Family Series by Cecilia Grant / Historical Romance Book Series

I started reading this series on a total whim because the first book was suggested when I was looking at a different book on Fantastic Fiction. While I thought this would be a high-steam type of series based on the premise of the first book, I found instead a much deeper emotional slow-burn. This series makes most sense to be read in order, especially when you get to Book 3 and one of the siblings is dealing with the fallout of what happens in Book 2. Overall, I enjoyed this series quite a bit, even if I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant (2011)

Historical romance, Regency era England. Book 1 of the Blackshear Family series. The blurb on the back tells a story of a desperate widow (Martha) in need of an heir to protect her household from the man who stands to inherit and that she propositions a scoundrel of a man (Theo) to assist her. Going into this book, I expected it to jump straight into high steam, but I surprisingly found a rather cold and industrious woman completely uninterested in the pleasure that her partner could (and is willing to) provide. I started to feel pretty bad for the guy around the 30% mark since it cannot be any fun at all to have an indifferent partner in bed. Our guy has been exiled to this lesser property of his baronet father’s so that he can make some use of himself, rather than be a wastrel in town. And so we have our two very opposite personalities in a business arrangement involving coldly intimate relations. But somehow this book makes it all work… it is a delightful slow burn, with Theo slowly learning to care for the well-being of the laborers on his land, conversing with Martha about land management and his good works, and Martha slowly coming to admire him.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant (2012)

Historical romance, Regency era England. Book 2 of the Blackshear Family series. Younger brother, Will has returned from his time at war feeling guilty over the death of one of his soldiers. He aims to fulfill a promise to care for the man’s widow and child. In order to do that, he has been gambling to earn some extra cash. While at a gambling party, he meets another man’s mistress, Lydia, who has seemingly swindled him out of money, and he confronts her. Eventually, these two team up to improve their odds of winning. This one is another slow burn from this author, with these two having an antagonistic relationship, moving on to being partners in crime, and fighting their attraction for each other.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

A Woman Entangled by Cecilia Grant (2013)

Historical romance, Regency era England. Book 3 of the Blackshear Family series. Kate is a barrister’s eldest daughter who is trying to climb out of the social chasm her family is in (her father, son of an earl, married an actress and was disowned by his family) by aiming for marrying a titled gentleman. She comes off kind of annoying here, knowing that she’s beautiful, and embarrassed by her family. Nick is also a barrister and her father’s friend; he had tried to court Kate years ago, but was rejected before he even had a chance. He has his own issues trying to rise above his family scandal (his brother married another man’s mistress in the previous book and the family disowned him). Both Kate and Nick are self-righteous and pretentious in their own ways and need to learn to accept the circumstances that they’re in an embrace the families they each have. This book had characters that had to both grow individually before being able to come together, so the romance of it felt secondary to their separate internal struggles. This book’s premise wasn’t my favorite, but I did like to see these two grow and learn.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong by Cecilia Grant (2014)

Historical romance, Regency era England. Prequel novella of the Blackshear Family series, takes place years before the first book of the series. This one finds our oldest brother of the Blackshear family, Andrew, out shopping for a hunting falcon as a gift for his sister. When he visits the nobleman that sells the birds, he meets the man’s beautiful daughter, Lucy. They’re complete opposites in terms of personality and adherence to propriety. Through chance and mischief (rain, snow, broken carriages, and Christmas), these two get stuck together for longer than he anticipated, eventually necessitating a fake marriage to keep up appearances in the town where they seek shelter. Over time, Lucy enables Andrew to let go of some of his seriousness and have fun

Ebook purchased from Amazon.