Regency Romance Archives - Proud Book Reviews

January 9, 2023January 2, 2023

A Laird in London – Catherine Tinley

This book contains:

Racism towards non-English people
Forced marriage.

Isabella is the youngest child and only girl in the Burtenshaw family and because of that, she’s wild, confident and knows what she would like from her life. The problem is, as a woman in regency times, her rights and options are limited and generally controlled by her eldest brother, the head of the Burtenshaw family.

Angus is the head of his family, and desperate to get adjoining lands back to improve the quality of his people’s lives. While he’s a confident and take-charge leader in Scotland, he’s a different man when he gets to London. While still confident and proud of his heritage, he’s also restrained and cautious to ensure the success of his trip to London.

Angus must travel to London to try and meet with the Lord who owns the neighbouring lands in order to try and purchase them. His sole aim is to procure the lands and return to Scotland as quickly as possible. At the same time, Isabella is forced to attend the London season in order to find a husband.

From an accidental meeting, Isabella and Angus are drawn to each other in ways they can’t explain, and they need to navigate it and their own individual goals for the season.

This was such a fun read and gave me a few Outlander vibes with the descriptions of the handsome Scottish Laird. His brave actions, consistent persistence to achieve his goal but also the way he navigated his feelings for Isabella was so enjoyable to read.

Isabella on the other hand had very modern thoughts for a woman, which given Catherine Tinley’s style isn’t surprising, and it made me wonder what else she might include in the book. One of those thoughts actually had me wondering and REALLY hoping she’d do it, but she didn’t.

For a book I practically binged in my last few days of work before Christmas, this definitely rated up there for me!

Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.

Author Bio

Catherine Tinley is a multi-award winning author of witty, heartwarming historical romance. Her first novel, Waltzing with the Earl, won the Rita® Award for Best Historical Romance in 2018, while Rags-to-Riches Wife won the RoNA Award for Best Historical Romance 2021 as well as the HOLT Medallion, and A Waltz with the Outspoken Governess won the RoNA Award for Best Historical Romance 2022.

She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech & language therapy, Sure Start, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now manages a maternity hospital. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, cats, and dog and can be reached at her website and on her socials.

Giveaway – Win a signed copy of A Laird in London (open internationally)

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*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

December 26, 2022December 26, 2022

The Wrong Way to Catch a Rake – Lara Temple

This book contains:

Mentions and depictions of theft
Descriptions of espionage.

Phoebe and Dom are vastly different characters, and yet still so similar and complementary.

Phoebe is a quiet, contained, but not demure woman in a man’s world. Given her family history, she has every right to feel the way she does, and she’s doing the best she can to make her place in the world, but it’s hard. She spends her days with her aunt working towards the political gain of her home country, but it takes up all her life and there’s no room for anything else.

Dom, however, is the heir to a Dukedom, a drunk and a rake by all accounts. He spends his days sleeping and his nights drinking, gambling and carousing with women. So very different to Phoebe, yet their end goals are remarkably similar.

Phoebe and Dom are currently living in Venice, in very different ways. Phoebe is spending her time as her aunt’s companion and exploring the city while apparently trying to figure out some espionage related activities. On the other hand, Dom spends his time drinking, gambling and whoring his way through life appearing to do and achieve nothing.

As Phoebe and Dom get to know each other, they realise there’s more to each other, and yet they can’t quite place it together until someone else prompts those thoughts to connect and then everything changes.

This was the first regency romance I’ve read in quite some time, and it came right as I knew I needed my fix. While it didn’t have as much of the ballroom kinda stuff, you’d expect in a regency romance, it had plenty of the chivalry, politeness, class differences and of course, the differences in what the two sexes are allowed to do.

I think the best part for me though, was trying to figure out when they’d figure out each other. The constant questioning how it’s going to connect, what they’ll do with that connection and everything else is what made it so thrilling for me.

While not your classically great regency romance, I enjoyed it all the same. And I hope you can find the same weird little thrill.

April 28, 2022June 4, 2022

The Earl She Should Never Desire – Lara Temple

This book contains:

Emotional results of war
Descriptions of the death of a husband, mother and child
Family disputes.

Lily left home when she was barely old enough to be married and eloped with her husband to Greta Green. Since their families disapproved of their union, they ran away and joined the war effort, during which Lily had and lost a child before then losing her husband on the battlefield. After her husband dies, Lily returns home to Manchester to find work and try and live her life without her mother’s disappointment and disapproval constantly interfering.

Marcus promised his mother he would find himself a wife to become his countess and continue the family lineage and sets out to find the perfect bride. This search leads him to Lily’s sister as someone he can get along with, produce heirs and not hate his life. That’s all he’s asking for in a wife.

Lily’s younger sister is engaged and begging her to some to London to meet her fiancé and be there for her wedding. Despite her reservations, Lily travels to London and endures her mother’s wrath to be there for her younger sister.

When Marcus meets Lily, he’s instantly drawn to her despite his betrothal to her younger sister and somehow finds ways time and again to protect her and help her bear her mother’s antics. He even helps her when the after-effects of seeing war grips her tightly and she’s frozen.

Lara Temple’s regency romances have always drawn me in. The way she’s able to tell a story where the characters emotionally struggle and yet you feel like you’re struggling with the characters, and you want to help them is amazing. While we never have to fear a cheating situation happening, you still find yourself wishing they could hurry up and find a way to be together.

I read this in like the space of two days in amongst chores and uni work and the whole time I just wanted to go back to reading this because it was so good!

Author Bio

Lara Temple writes strong and sensual Regency romances about complex individuals who give no quarter but do so with plenty of passion. She lives with her husband, two children, and one very fluffy dog and they are all very understanding about her taking over the kitchen table so she can look out over the garden as she writes and dreams up her Happy Ever Afters.

November 9, 2021November 7, 2021

Never Fall for Your Fiance – Virginia Heath

This book contains:

Bribery in action
References and descriptions of a con artist
Fake relationship.

Hugh is an Earl with a mother who’s insisting he needs to get married, except he’s not interested. He doesn’t feel like he’s suited to marriage or any long-term romantic attachments. Especially given the way his parents’ marriage progressed.

Minerva is an everyday woman working to survive and make enough money to keep her family afloat. After the way men have treated her in the past — her father, her almost fiancé and most of her customers — she’s got zero interest in becoming emotionally involved with one.

Hugh’s caught out when he gets word that his mother is on the way home and wants to meet his made-up fiancé. Only problem is, she’s expecting to come to wedding planning, and he doesn’t even have a fiancé, let alone a wedding in preparation.

Thanks to a chance encounter with Minerva, he suddenly sees a way out of his disaster. He helps her, and then hires her to pretend to be his fiancé while his mother is in town. Of course, family is involved which means there’s all sorts of drama that gets in the way in the most interesting way possible!

I had so much fun reading this. Most of the regency romance novels I read have more mystery or general drama in it. Not many of them have me laughing like I was with this one!

I mean, how much drama can happen in one book?

And the way they all interacted! Such chemistry!

The laughter had me going almost the whole way through the book with each little bit just adding to the whole thing. So when they did finally find their way together, it felt like something more was going to happen… then it didn’t.

Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.

Author Bio

When Virginia Heath was a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated, sometimes taking weeks to get to the happy ending. Then one day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Twenty-two books and two Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations later, and it still takes her forever to fall asleep.

Giveaway

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October 18, 2021October 18, 2021

Undercover Duke – Sabrina Jeffries

This book contains:

Attempted kidnapping.

Sheridan is the final child of Lydia not yet happily married. He’s inherited a dukedom that appears to be failing and he’s struggling to figure out how to make more money while continuing to help his family solve their mystery. He’s adamant that he can do things his way and achieve everything he needs to without the help of anyone else.

Vanessa has featured in a few of the earlier novels as the younger cousin of Grey. All this time she’s been known to have her eye on a “poet”. Now she’s centre stage and we get to learn more about her, such as her creativity, intelligence and tenacity.

Sheridan is tasked with having to question Vanessa’s mum by his brother Grey, who suggests Sheridan pretends to court Vanessa to give him the opportunity to question her mum. Of course, like any good romance, Vanessa finds a way to encourage him to court her while she’s working towards her own goal.

With Sheridan being the last child of Lydia to get married, we know we have to figure out who’s been murdering all her husbands. While there were lots of unexpected twists and turns along the way. The culmination of all the books to this point was DRAMATIC!

It’s really hard sometimes to end a series like this, where each book can be read as a stand-alone book and follows a different couple each time, without ruining the final love match. In this case, Sabrina has found a really good balance, although at times, I think she left it JUST A TOUCH too long before bringing the investigation back into the focus.

April 16, 2021April 17, 2021

Duchess if You Dare – Anabelle Bryant

This book contains:

blackmail
human trafficking and slavery
attempted murder.

Scarlett is a young woman who’s lucky enough to be independent and without need of a male to provide for her. She has a knack for investigating and has developed keen fighting skills to keep her safe while she’s a member of the Maidens of Mayhem.

Ambrose on the other hand is a Duke constantly bailing his younger brother out of various trouble to protect the family name. Only this time it seems to have landed him in deeper water than normal.

Scarlett and Ambrose are both chasing information about people they care for. While doing so they keep crossing paths until they finally give in and decide to work together since they seem to have a common goal.

Over the course of the book, they’re challenged in way they weren’t expecting, and through it all strive to come out as better people for it.

I loved how empowering this book was for women, even if it wasn’t quite historically accurate, it was still a great read. The adventure throughout, the small instances of romance, the thought provoking comments and the overall emotionally charged story.

There’s more to this series and I’m hoping I’ll be able to come back to it in the future because it was a great read in the regency times that just hits the nail of action and romance so well!

Continue to read further down to find out about the author.

Author Bio

USA Today Bestselling author Anabelle Bryant began reading at age three and never stopped. Her passion for reading soon turned into a passion for writing and an author was born. Happy to grab her suitcase if it ensures a new adventure, Anabelle finds endless inspiration in travel; especially imaginary jaunts into romantic Regency England, a far cry from her home in New Jersey. Instead, her clever characters live out her daydreams because really, who wouldn’t want to dance with a handsome duke or kiss a wicked earl?

Anabelle’s books have been translated into several languages including Japanese and Russian, but writing isn’t all that keeps her busy. Building miniatures, baking and photography are other favorite pastimes. Often found with her nose in a book, Anabelle is just as happy in a room full of people. She enjoys meeting readers, attending conferences and book signings. She has earned her Master’s Degree and is ABD for her Doctorate Degree in education.

A firm believer in romance, Anabelle knows sometimes life doesn’t provide a happily ever after, but her novels always do.

January 18, 2021January 16, 2021

A Match for the Rebellious Earl – Lara Temple

Thank you Lara for reaching out to me to review this. You remembered I loved Return of the Disappearing Duke, and I’m so thankful you thought of me to review this for you.

Throughout the book we swap between Kit Carrington (the new Lord Westford) and Genny Maitland’s perspectives. Both characters met when Genny travelled with her grandfather’s army regiment several years earlier, however, were never close and weren’t in contact once they separated ways.

Kit is reluctant to take the mantle of Lord Westford, especially because of how his cousins treated him. The only reason he’s back is because his half-sister is getting married and she wants him there. His plan is to sort out the family business, attend his sister’s wedding and set sail again! Genny is in a different position. With no family, her sister’s dead husband left them with a lot of debt and no way to support themselves. On top of that, they’re stuck living with Kit’s horrible grandmother who torments them every chance she gets.

Genny is trying to find a way to clear her sister’s husbands’ debts and find a new life for them, free from the Dowager Westford. To get what she wants she uses the skills her grandfather nurtured to form alliances and manipulate people and situations to achieve everyone’s goals.

One such alliance is with Kit, the goal of which is to find suitable husbands for Genny’s sister and Kit’s step-mum. While working with Kit to organise everything to her liking, they discover their attraction to each other. As they execute each part of their plan, they’re fighting their attraction for each other, without letting anyone realise what’s happening.

I’m a fan of Lara’s works and always enjoy a story with a strong female lead. Throughout this story I was left wondering how they’d get their happily ever after. They fought it every step of the way, which for some reason made me all the more determined that they should get it!

I got so invested in their relationship that I found myself stressing that maybe this would be the book where they didn’t get a happily ever after.

The fact that in the end, it was Kit’s maturity that helped them bridge the gap and move forward was awesome. The fact that you could tell how nervous he was, how he didn’t want to risk his heart but at the same time knew he had to put himself out there, it made that moment so much more believable.

All their interactions leading up to that moment allowed it to feel so much more alive and real. Every time they’d come close to maybe admitting their feeling one or both had shied away. So that moment where they both finally put it all on the table had me cheering them on.

September 14, 2020February 4, 2021

Who Wants to Marry a Duke – Sabrina Jeffries

Welcome back everyone, I’ve got a bunch of reviews over the coming weeks that I’m really excited to bring to you. It’s been a bit touch and go being able to get them all read in time but I think I’m getting there!

Returning to the Dukes Dynasty we’re on another murder mystery with just as much action as the previous books. If anything, I feel like it got amped up a little!

Olivia’s confidence in her skills amazed me given this book is a regency romance and women didn’t have many career choices. And yet she’s not comfortable moving around society like most of the women in regency romances.

Although Thorn is made out to be a bit of an arrogant rake, we know from the first two books that he’s more than he seems. As Olivia and Thorn work together we see more aspects of both their personalities coming out that, usually, complement each other quite well.

Roughly the first half of the book focuses on the romance, then as things escalate it twists into more of a murder mystery that happens to have some romance spattered in. Normally I’d find this change frustrating, but since we’re now three books into the series it’s good to see the wider story develop.

I can’t wait to find out more with Sheridan when the next book comes out next year. I really need to know who did it!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review; on Friday I’ll be reviewing Lost Time and Dead Time by D.L. Orton.

August 30, 2020February 1, 2021

The Return of the Disappearing Duke – Lara Temple

Welcome back everyone, you know that feeling when you start a book and realise it’s a sequel, yet can’t figure out to what? Yea I had that with this one.

Within like 2 pages I knew this was a sequel to another book I’d read. Yet when I looked through all of Lara Temple’s books on Goodread’s that I’ve read I should figure it out based on the series names.

After a quick email to Rachel I figured it follows the Sinful Sinclairs but I’m still not sure if it’s meant to be part of that series or not since there was barely a Sinclair in this one.

If you are a fan of reading a series books in order you’ll find this one slightly annoying since most of it is set before The Lord’s Inconvenient Vow, yet if you tried to read this first you’d just spoil some of the good things in that. So please don’t read this one first!

The way Cleo is treated by others and how she acts in response felt authentic to me, mostly because she often pretends to be a man in order to go about doing things that women can’t otherwise do. She even made a comment about how much easier it is to be a man. A sentiment I don’t think has changed too much in all these years for many women.

The slow development between them was such a bonus. It wasn’t something that happened too quickly, they respected when the other didn’t feel the same. I mean, Rafe was in touch with his emotions enough to actually clear up the misunderstanding between them!

That is a rare man that can do that without even realising it!

I loved every minute of this book and easily finished it within a few days.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review; on Friday I’ll be reviewing Hopeful Hearts at Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters. Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.