Fallen Series by Eve Pendle / Historical Romance Book Series

Falling for a Rake by Eve Pendle (2019)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Fallen series. We start with a prim and proper lady who hunts for ferns and a rake of a man following her through the woods and trying to flirt with her, even as she politely puts him off. And then they fall down an abandoned mine and get stuck there overnight. Well, now that they’re basically ruined, they need to marry. But both of them have secrets from the past and neither are exactly what they seem. Lady Emily, daughter of a duke, has been engaged before, but her fiancee had died in a hunting accident, so now Emily doesn’t participate in any physically strenuous activities and only hunts ferns and not foxes. But there’s something more to the story there because she keeps having nightmares about her ex-fiancee. The rakish earl Oscar has admitted the worst of himself to Emily: that he has dallied with the younger sister of a woman he was courting, got her with child, and refused to marry her. The young lady and their illegitimate daughter now live in the country and he is not part of their lives. But he’s also not exactly the rake that he seems to play in the world; he’s kind and caring of Emily and doesn’t actually take advantage of her when they’re trapped together. This book had a lot of interesting reveals of Emily and Oscar’s pasts, presents, and learning to accept each other for who they are. And there’s a meddlesome anonymous gossip writer adding to the drama.

Ebook purchased from Amazon.

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Once a Fallen Lady by Eve Pendle (2020)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Fallen series. This story takes place around the same time as Book 1. We get to follow the lives of the young woman who was ruined and her now ten-year old illegitimate daughter. Lydia has been living as a fraudulent widow in a small village and raising her daughter Annie there. When Annie gets ill, Lydia doesn’t have the money to send for the doctor, but the schoolteacher Alfred notices Annie’s absence and comes to check on them. Over the course of Annie’s illness, Alfred comes to visit, bringing food and books, and helping to run errands for Lydia. This one is a relatively short but super quick read with Alfred definitely falling first and Lydia thinking that she’s not worthy of him. It’s also fun to read about an event that happens in Book 1 from a different point of view. I definitely enjoyed reading these two books back-to-back.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

Catch a Falling Duke by Eve Pendle (2021)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Fallen series. This book takes place about ten years after the first two books in the series, with Hugo (Emily’s brother) having just inherited the dukedom. While Hugo is looking through papers in the study, he finds that his family fortune is founded upon something horribly upsetting. As Hugo runs away from his estate to think, he encounters a woman at an inn and spends the night with her. Beatrice is a lonely widowed farmer, who’s parents have also died, and is looking to find a man named in a letter she found of her mother’s. She and Hugo spend the next day looking for the man, only to be met with disappointment. While Hugo ultimately admits his troubles to Beatrice (and also the fact that he’s a duke), Beatrice insists there’s no future between them due to the differences in social standing and they part ways. At some point, Hugo finds a way to try to prove his commitment to Beatrice, taking whatever part of her life he can get. We get to go back to Bea’s farm and meet all her farmhands and essentially her found family. This was a delightful way to tie things back together and we get to learn how Hugo copes with his grandfather’s ill-gotten wealth.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.