Rogues to Lovers Historical Romance Book Series by Anna Bennett

Girls Before Earls by Anna Bennett (2021)

Historical romance. Regency England. Book 1 of the Rogues to Lovers series. Hazel is the headmistress of a new finishing school and an earl has come to drop off his 15 year old niece who was recently orphaned. The niece has been acting up (understandably) and was kicked out of two other schools recently. Although Blade is willing to pay any cost to enroll his niece and then go back to London and about his miserable existence, Hazel insists that he come back and visit his niece every two weeks. Over the course of those visits, he slowly develops a relationship with both his niece and the fetching headmistress. I enjoyed learning about Blade’s backstory and why he avoids love and heartbreak; you can sort of see the signs of it early on when he talks about his lost love and how he was also estranged from his brother, but it’s still heartbreaking when you see it all laid out plainly. Hazel has her own hurts from the past and tries to maintain her composure and resilience, but then realizes that she needs to open up and go after what she wants. It’s a fun introduction to our seaside town and characters and a nice set up for future books in the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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One Duke Down by Anna Bennett (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Book 2 of the Rogues to Lovers series. Another fun book from Anna Bennett. Fisherman’s daughter Poppy discovers an injured man washed up on shore who claims to be a duke. She trades him shelter for money while he figures out who might have attacked him. These two have instant rapport and chemistry with each other with a lot of easy teasing and flirting. However, there’s Poppy’s poor history with members of nobility, the duke Keane actually turning out to be a duke, plus the drama of Poppy’s wayward brother, and the mystery of Keane’s assault. Despite all of these obstacles, Poppy and Keane are sure of each other’s character and integrity and never once doubt the other person. Absolutely enjoyable read!

Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

It Takes a Rake by Anna Bennett (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Rogues to Lovers series. Kitty and Leo were both apprentices to his grandfather’s architecture office before Leo suddenly moved to London. Four years later, he’s back in town after his father’s death and taking over the architecture business. He’s had a longstanding crush on Kitty all this time, even though she had never noticed him in that way, and they always bickered and fought when they worked together. Total opposites just getting on each other’s nerves. Well, now that he’s back, Kitty is teasing him for being too much of a nice guy to get his dream girl, so somehow she’s trading rake lessons for math checking on her latest architectural design. She doesn’t know that Leo only has eyes for her and the transformation is really to spend more time with her, and of course, she’s totally confused when she realizes that Leo is actually very attractive. She’ll need to get over her fear of the nice guy if she wants a chance at long-standing happiness with him.

Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.