Keeping Up with the Cavendishes Historical Romance Book Series by Maya Rodale

Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale (2016)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series. The Cavendish family consists of a newly inherited duke and his three sisters, all new to England from America. They’ve all been taken under the wing of their aunt and duchess, learning all the stuffy rules of society. Bridget is the middle sister who seems to want to embrace the rules and try to fit in so that she isn’t mocked so easily. At her first ball, she meets the charming and handsome Rupert and his super stuffy and cold older brother Darcy. While it seems that Bridget and Rupert are headed towards courtship, Darcy is the one who cannot stop staring at and thinking about Bridget. Nevermind that he’s almost engaged to the ton’s latest mean girl, Francesca, who tries to disparage Bridget at every instance. While there’s a lot of chaos with the unconventional Cavendish family, we get to see the bickering relationship between Bridget and Darcy turn into something more. This book was a lot of fun to read, with all its parallels to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Chasing Lady Amelia by Maya Rodale (2016)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series. This book takes place during the same timeline as Book 1 of the series, but it still makes sense to read it as standalone. Amelia is the youngest sister of a new duke, freshly arrived to the Ton from America, where she is constrained by all the rules of decorum. After a disastrous evening at Almack’s and a huge fight with her family, Amelia finds herself wandering the streets at night and being rescued by a stranger. Alistair is newly back in England after traveling for the past six years, summoned by his uncle to woo and marry one of the American girls. It’s his lucky day when he realizes that the girl he rescued is the most scandalous of those girls. While Amelia gives a fake name and identity, she and Alistair end up spending the day together, seeing all the sights that proper Lady Amelia has not been allowed to do. It’s a whirlwind perfect day that leaves both Amelia and Alistair nearly in love with each other; except that Alistair has known who she was all along and is starting to feel guilty for deceiving her all day. About half the book takes place over that one day, but then Amelia goes home and eventually learns about Alistair’s true motives. The question is whether he can successfully grovel his way into her good graces again.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Lady Claire Is All That by Maya Rodale (2016)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series. Claire is more interested in mathematics than suitors, wears her spectacles to balls, and doesn’t give much care to her appearance. After Fox has been jilted by his very suitable fiance, he somehow makes a wager with his friend that he can turn any woman into the darling of the ton with the right amount of polish. Fox’s friend (but really rival) has picked out Claire as the unwitting subject of this bet. (It’s basically She’s All That, but in Regency-era). Claire is obviously super suspicious of the handsome and brawny Fox spending time with her, when she purposely repels suitors by talking about math all the time. He even escorts her to math lectures to soften her up. The physical attraction between these two comes on strong, but they’re pretty ill-suited in terms of personality and interest. And that darn bet is still a conflict waiting to drop.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

It’s Hard Out Here for a Duke by Maya Rodale (2017)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series. James and his sisters are bound for London to take up his new role as duke, but he enjoys one last night as “Just James” with a beautiful woman he meets at a tavern. Meredith is traveling back to her role as a duchess’ companion when she meets James’ eye across the tavern and decides to take this one opportunity for passion before she continues being a proper companion. Of course, they’re in for some bad luck when they realize that they’re stuck in the same household with completely disparate social stations and need to forget their one night stand ever happened. While James struggles with his new role and responsibilities, he’s continually tempted by the presence of Meredith and wishes he could give everything up to be with her instead. Meredith is the one that is usually sensible and explains to James the ways of the ton and how their relationship would be completely inappropriate. However, all the hints of the relationship between James and Meredith that we’ve seen from the first three books come into full force in this one, where they both need to decide what’s really important to them.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.