Georgina defied her father once to follow her heart, but now a widow, she’s financially dependent on him and has little choice but to agree to the marriage he dictates. On her way home to marry the detestable Lord Travers, she’s kidnapped and taken to Portsmouth, where she escapes and runs into Lord Robin St. Just, a friend of her brother. Rob agrees to help her out, but the only help he can give is passage on his ship to Cornwall. Georgie has no real choice but to agree. I’v

This is the fourth book in the Penniless Brides of Convenience series and possibly the one I’ve been looking forward to the most: Kate, Lady Elmswood, is the surrogate mother and mentor to the heroines of the first three books, her own convenient marriage with an absentee husband the model the other women aim for (and fail dismally, but that’s three entirely different stories). Now, Kate’s husband Daniel, the man she spent all of a few days with eleven years ago, is home recu

A promise to her dying best friend has led Natalie Fanshawe to England, in a desperate attempt to reunite an orphaned boy with the only family he has left. An American with no reason at all to respect the English class system, her back is quickly put up by Hadrian, Duke of Clayton, even if he has done her a great service by helping her find Leo when her charge runs away. Finding out that the duke is heading to the same destination, Natalie has little choice but to accept his

Part of Erica Ridley’s 12 Dukes of Christmas series about a small town the residents have turned into a permanent Christmas-themed tourist attraction, you don’t need to have read the rest of the series to enjoy this rather charming novella. Sébastien le Duc, French aristocrat turned blacksmith, is the hero of this one, and Miss Eve Shelling his heroine. Eve and her father run the Cressmouth Gazette, more of a promotional pamphlet extolling the town’s virtues than an actual ne

Third in the Sinful Sinclairs series, there is very little referenced from the previous books in this one, and though both Edge and Sam were introduced in earlier books, rest assured you can start reading here and not feel like you’ve missed anything. What I’ve loved most about this series is the way Lara Temple really creates a sense of place; in this story, Edge and Sam spend a lot of time both in the present and in past reminiscences in Egypt, exploring archaeological site

I have to admit at about a quarter into this book, I couldn’t figure out what was businesslike about the marriage of this couple at all, because quite frankly they seemed to have fallen quite thoroughly in love with each other while exploring Florence (and where better?) However, as the story went on, I came to realise that Aidan was in absolutely no fit state to have his heart engaged, no matter how well he and Estelle suited each other. Aidan’s past is a very slow reveal, w

In this third book in Susanna Craig’s Rogues and Rebels series, it’s the eldest of the Burke family, barrister Paris, who meets his match. Still suffering guilt over the consequences his participation in the failed 1798 Irish Rebellion brought down on his friends and family, he’s been drinking when he meets a young woman he incorrectly assumes is the new governess sent to look after his sisters. In the midst of a panicked flight from a forced marriage, Rosamund Gorse seizes o

Two long novellas make up this duology, both set in the same Cornish fishing village in the winter of 1822. In Marguerite Kaye’s The Captain’s Christmas Proposal, Treeve Penhaligon returns to the village of Porth Kerrick to take up the inheritance he never wanted. The only person in the village who seems to welcome him is an outsider, Miss Emily Faulkner, new tenant in one of his cottages, and obviously a genteel lady fallen on harder times. Treeve and Emily both have pasts t

In the time of the Scottish Clearances, Logan Blair is desperate to protect his people. Juliana Bernard only has one person to protect, her niece Grace, but time is running out for Juliana. She needs a husband, now, and heads to Scotland looking for the man who promised to marry her, childhood friend Fitz, now a powerful duke. When she arrives, though, it’s to discover Fitz’s brother Logan has been intercepting and destroying her letters as he tries to cut Fitz’s ties to Engl

If you’re looking for a gentle, undemanding sort of romance between two very nice people with not an enormous amount at stake for either of them, this could very well fit the bill nicely. Lady Sophie Windham is a duke’s daughter with a soft heart and a habit of taking in strays, left literally holding a baby when her good nature if taken advantage of. Vim Charpentier steps in to help out, and, trapped by a prodigious snowstorm, the two start falling for each other. It’s easy

When Alex, the Marquis of Exeter, comes home from his Grand Tour after his father’s unexpected death, he’s woefully unprepared to manage his estates and has no real idea what to do with his teenaged sisters. The obvious solution is to find a wife, and Lady Dorie Huntingdon seems to fit the bill nicely - except Dorie wants a love match and Alex doesn’t even know what that is. The first thing that bothered me about this is that marquis is a Scottish title. Exeter is a real town

I rarely review JAFF novels but I’m making an exception for A Lady’s Reputation because it’s just such an interesting premise with such sparkling, wonderful writing. Darcy deciding to consult with his uncle to eliminate any potential resistance to his choice of a wife before he offers for Elizabeth is entirely plausible, but such a juicy bit of gossip cannot be contained and before he knows it, events have spiralled out of control and half London is discussing his engagement

It’s a little bit hard for me to rate this book, because I’m really struggling with my feelings about the hero of it. Roger, Marquess of Chatton, is a decent enough sort of fellow for the most part, and it also seems plain that in today’s world, he’d be diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Subtlety is completely alien to him, he doesn’t see nuances or reasons behind the actions of other people, and words really aren’t his friends - he has a habit of blurting out things others wo

One night in a cafe in Paris, two people both on the cusp of beginning a grand adventure meet by chance. Phoebe is about to leap into her dream of owning her own restaurant, in association with an acclaimed French chef, also her lover. Owen has just left London and is about to commence a grand adventure, trying to work out what he wants from life. They share a few hours of conversation over a jug of wine, each intrigued by the other but two ships passing in the night. Two yea

Davina McCullum has an excellent claim to a Scottish barony, and she even has powerful friends who have agreed to take up her cause with the king. All would seem to be clear for her to regain the property her family once lost. Except that the current owner of the property is a certain duke who sees absolutely no reason why he should give it up. Despite the fact that he never goes there and in fact, considers it a site of traumatic and painful memories, he’d rather defy a king

There are quite a few things unusual about this book, not least is that it’s set in the Regency and neither of the protagonists is a member of the aristocracy, though the heroine is closest, being a baron’s granddaughter and the widow of an earl’s younger son. The hero is very far from it, having grown up in the Foundling Hospital before being trained to work in a bank and working his way up to becoming an businessman and a man of some means. Another way this story is unusual

This is the third in the series about three Regency lords who manage a club called Temptations and how they find their loves, this one featuring Ramsay, Marquess of Sterling, the most strait-laced of the three, and Grace, the ward of one of the other two. Although both characters were introduced in previous books, this can be read as a standalone. Grace is unconventional in that she’s been educated and she is well traveled, having been to India and Egypt,among other places, w

The earl in question’s need for a convenient bride is based on a fallacy (no, earldoms can’t be entailed away if the heir isn’t married by some arbitrary age) but the author rather adorably admits they know that and used it for a plot device anyway because, you know, fiction, so I’m inclined to give it a pass. Other than that this is a really well-researched story with some nice historically accurate details in there to help the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Eloise and Al

Though this is the second in the House of Lovell series from this author, it reads perfectly fine as a standalone. It’s a second chance romance featuring Anne, Lady Howard, and Edward Lovell, the Earl of Chatham (formerly Lord Bredon). Lovers when they were younger, Edward’s father packed him off on a Grand Tour to prevent him from marrying Anne, considered below him in station. He asked her to wait, but received word less than a month later that she’d married a baron. Now wi

When a group of high-spirited, high-society ladies and gentlemen put on a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, hijinks are sure to ensue. There’s an absolutely hilarious scene in this book where it seems half the cast are running around a country house in the middle of the night, all trying to get into the bedrooms of someone they shouldn’t, generally someone who doesn’t return their affections, while trying to use a ‘love potion’ of doubtful origins. I adore Lucy, the m