Gentlemen Authors Historical Romance Book Series by Sophie Barnes

A Duke’s Guide to Romance by Sophie Barnes (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Gentlemen Authors series. Impoverished duke Anthony is worrying about how to secure funds for his sisters’ future debut and is considering a marriage to a wealthy daughter of a viscount. He stumbles upon a bookshop and meets the charming young lady, Ada, who works and lives there with her uncle. At first, he hides the fact that he’s a duke and enjoys a friendship with Ada. She makes an observation that romance novels (like those from Jane Austen) sell quite well, and Anthony takes the idea back to his two friends and propose that they should write a romance novel together to sell for money. Anthony and Ada continue their friendship and he does ultimately tell her who she is. It’s a relatively sweet development of their relationship, despite their differences in social station. There’s some meddling and scheming from the lady that Anthony is purportedly courting, but that eventually gets resolved with some open communication. Overall, an interesting start to this series of gentlemen authors.

Advance ebook provided by Sophie Barnes via NetGalley.

A Duke’s Introduction to Courtship by Sophie Barnes (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Gentlemen Authors series. Brody is an impoverished duke who has secretly written a romance novel with two of his friends, but is strapped for immediate cash when a debt collector comes calling for his younger brother’s debts. While out for a walk, he happens across a job opening at a print shop and thinks that he’ll be able to collect a small bit of money while also sneaking in his own manuscript for consideration. While there, he runs into a young man who works as a compositor in the print shop and doesn’t know why he’s drawn to the lad. Harry is actually Harriet and dresses up as a young man to gain employment to care for herself and her younger sister. She has successfully maintained the disguise for several years, but her attraction for Brody might give her away. This book had a slow progression of friendship, caretaking, and a relatively low-angst romance. We also get to revisit the couple from Book 1 of the series, as both Brody and Harriet are friends with the duke and duchess, respectively.

Advance ebook provided by Sophie Barnes via NetGalley.

A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Gentlemen Authors series. Callum and Emily have known and avoided each other for years because they keep having physical mishaps and calamities with each other (trodden toes, ruined gowns, falling in water, and even a dress burn). It’s fairly obvious to the reader that Callum is clumsy because he’s nervous around Emily, though she has not seen it that way. One day at the park, Callum’s orphaned ward seems to perk up when coming across Emily’s dog, and Callum arranges for the boy to spend more time with the dog. Callum and Emily talk out their clumsiness and misunderstandings and slowly develop a friendship with each other. It’s nice seeing them interact and form a bit of a family unit around Callum’s ward, and when Emily’s grandmother is ill, she lies about a courtship with Callum to make her happy. We also get to catch up with the couples from the previous two books of the series and see the progress of the romance novel that the three gentlemen friends have written.

Advance ebook provided by Sophie Barnes via NetGalley.