Weekly Reads: April 10 to 16, 2023

The Lady Knows Best by Susanna Craig (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Goode’s Guide to Misconduct series. Daphne stumbles onto a meeting of the anonymous writers of a forward-thinking women’s magazine and somehow gets assigned the task of writing a reply to a young lady asking what to do after catching her arranged fiancee with another woman. Miles, a terribly rakish viscount, ends up the victim of the advice column when his fiancee calls off the engagement. He realizes that Daphne is the anonymous authoress and blackmails her into finding him a suitable replacement or else he’ll expose her writing. Meanwhile, her mentor at the magazine encourages her to write an essay about troublesome rakes and use the attentions of the viscount as research. Daphne offers herself up for marriage, mostly to gather research about Miles until he calls it off, but also because she’s attracted to him anyway. Over the course of the book, we find that Miles is more than what he seems and we’re just waiting for Daphne to realize it too. It’s a fun set up for a series and also a nice callback to Daphne’s older siblings who are the main characters of some of Craig’s previous books.

Advance ebook provided by Kensington Books via NetGalley.

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To Love a Scandalous Duke by Liana De la Rosa (2017)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Once Upon a Scandal series. Childhood friends who were separated by tragic circumstances (and possible family betrayal) are reunited here. Declan has returned to England after being sent away for the past twelve years following the tragic death of his father; upon his return, he finds that his brother has died and is now the duke. Lady Alethea is the daughter of an earl, Declan’s childhood neighbor and friend, and is instantly drawn to Declan again, despite his hurtful accusations about her father before he left the country. There’s definitely a bit of mystery here between the two families, with Declan’s father being blamed for a huge financial scandal before killing himself, and Declan’s older brother dying under suspicious circumstances. While Declan is trying to uncover the truth, he’s distracted by Alethea’s presence. Alethea is mostly just trying to get by and assert her independence, not believing her own father capable of the misdeeds Declan suspects of him. The romance part of this book was fairly straightforward, and I was mostly captivated by the mystery element and wanting to know the truth of the scandal that happened all those years ago. And with our luck, we got to uncover another juicy secret in the meantime.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

To Resist a Scandalous Rogue by Liana De la Rosa (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Once Upon a Scandal series. After the scandal that Alethea uncovers in the previous book, her twin brother Finley is at a bit of a loss of direction. At an earl’s debaucherous house party, he meets a woman in the garden and spends one night with her before she disappears on him. Charlotte is a widow who was left with no money, no family, and no protection. She ended up at an earl’s house party thinking to get a maid’s position, but was dismayed to learn that her cousin has offered her an opportunity to be a courtesan. Although she rejects that role, she ended up in Finley’s bed anyway, and runs off before she’s tempted to become his mistress. A year later, Finley is seeking a position in Parliament and Charlotte has become a schoolteacher at a foundling home, and the two cross paths again. With their social class differences, his secrets, her secrets, and his political aspirations, this match is certainly unwise. We get to see them both slowly bring the other person into their confidence and become emotionally entangled. I enjoyed reading this one too and it was a great follow-up to the first book in the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

How to Best a Marquess by Janna MacGregor (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Widow Rules series. The prologue consists of a very charming proposal from Julian to Beth, but things didn’t quite turn out the way they expected. Eight years later, Beth is now one of three widows of a duke’s younger brother, and was not in fact married to the scoundrel at all. In a quest to recover her lost dowry and get away from her older brother’s influence, she seeks out the destitute Julian, now a marquess, for assistance, offering him half the money in payment. We follow with a road trip and second chance romance, though Beth is adamant that she never marry and she knows that her reputation will be detrimental to the honorable Julian’s reputation. Julian however just wants to convince Beth that he’s sorry for walking away all those years ago when her brother denied his proposal and that he’s still in love with her. I mostly empathized with poor Julian there who just can’t catch a break. And of course all of those road trip adventures are a fun read as well.

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

The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Lover by Cassandra Morann (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. The author has said that this will be Book 1 of a series involving the Marston family, but no official series title is available right now. We start at a ball at the Viscount Marston’s London home, where Samira is a young woman crashing a ball to steal loose cash and trinkets from the lord’s study. Rowan, the viscount, dislikes balls and soirees but is captivated by Samira’s appearance, so he follows her to his own study. After stealing a kiss from her, he calls her out on her thievery and lets her go. The next day, Rowan calls upon Samira at her home to ask for her assistance in stealing incriminating letters away from a slimy earl. Since Samira has her own grudge against that earl, she agrees. The story continually deals with Rowan and Samira’s attraction for each other, his need to uphold his duties, and her insistence to never become a man’s mistress. Both characters need to open themselves to trust each other and their intentions, and they’re both terribly stubborn. I especially liked learning about Samira’s backstory and how she grew to be so skeptical of the men of society. It’s interesting to see the family dynamics of their respective families and how the stage is set for future books in the series.

Advance ebook provided by Cassandra Morann.

To Tame a Scandalous Lady by Liana De la Rosa (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Once Upon a Scandal series. Lady Flora, daughter of a duke and sister to a marquess with political ambitions, disguises herself as a man to become the assistant trainer at a horse racing operation. While she has set herself up to learn how to run a racing stable, she is surprised to find herself attracted to the marquess who owns the place. Christian aims to rebuild his family’s legacy after a stable fire took the lives of his father and many prized racehorses; after spending all his money to rebuild the stables, he needs this new horse to win in order to recoup the costs. When he finds out his horse trainer is actually a woman, he first wants to dismiss her, but keeps her on after Flora stubbornly defends her actions. They start a dalliance while they aren’t busy with the horses, but the truth of Flora’s identity could leads to scandal for them both if she’s caught. I loved reading about the defiant and competent Flora here and how she doesn’t cower to the men in her life.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

To Tempt a Scandalous Lord by Liana De la Rosa (2021)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Once Upon a Scandal series. Flora’s older brother Niall is in the race for Prime Minister, but is being maligned in a series of political articles. He’s focused on his work and wants to find the culprit of the articles, but is suddenly distracted when he meets Alicia, the widow of an earl. When she experiences a wardrobe malfunction which may lead to potential ruin, he declares them engaged to save both their reputations. While the two are most definitely attracted to each other, Alicia is keeping secrets from everyone. She’s actually the anonymous writer of the political articles that are meant to provoke thought and incite action from the politicians. With such a big secret hanging over her head, we’re just waiting for the fallout. I liked reading about Niall’s interactions with the orphans from the foundling home he supports and how Alicia softens towards him when she realizes his care for the children. I also liked seeing all the men from the previous books of the series rally around Niall and support him. Excellent ending to an enjoyable series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.