Sofi Laporte

What a charming and intriguing romp between a pair of unusual and shocking penpals.

Lady Ludmilla “Lu” Windmere is a plain, on-the-shelf spinster who has a secret. Her best friend is a man, but she’s never met him. They’ve only corresponded by letter and she now has the chance to meet him. However, she uncovers his identity as the worst scoundrel in the city…or is he?

Viscount Adrian St. Addington lives behind a mask of devilment and indifference. His reputation so long ago was show more ruined by a woman who used his naivety for her own personal pleasure and gain. The only person who stood by him all those years was his cousin Adam. His cousin knows the true Adrian St. Addington as well as Adrian’s best friend and secret correspondent, Lu. When he finally meets her in person, he cannot contain his attraction and maintain his facade. Love is for sentimental fools…or is it?

Lu and Adrian make a fearless team. They are both outspoken and daring and share a love of reading and theatre. Lu is a strong and intelligent young woman who dreams of living in a cottage and raising chickens. Away from the city. Away from the rumors and gossip. Away from the attention. Unfortunately, I believe Adrian and his drunken and brutal bet with a man Lu was infatuated with a decade ago, was a big part of why she went into hiding. Adrian definitely had some character building to do after belittling her plain appearance. It literally ruined Lu’s self-confidence and made her flee London and hide away from the world. Little did she know her correspondence with him would show his genuine character. Adrian does show his decent side as he helps save another young woman from ruin and he does show Lu how lovely she is in his own roundabout way. What better mate to fall in love with than a best friend.

Adrian’s cousin Adam and Lu’s sister Jessica are great additions to the cast of characters. As well as Lu’s aunts who are complete opposites, but duty-bound to see their niece is happy.

This feel-good romance is a delight to read. The characters are feisty and the plot is original. A great start to a fun series.

Thank you to Ms. Laporte for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less

It was a cute and clean Beauty and the Beast retelling, which I enjoyed against my better judgement.

Birdie swaps lives with a girl she meets on a mail coach. Instead of becoming a governess, she travels to Scotland to marry a stranger, who happens to be a duke, because Britain had approximately 578942 dukes at the time.

There were some very jarring historical inaccuracies, which I didn’t appreciate, and a few plot holes that made me roll my eyes. However, other than that it was a fun read. show more There was a tormented, scarred hero with PTSD, and a heroine who fought for what she wanted. I loved how she didn’t take his BS and did what she thought was best.

All in all, 3.5 stars rounded up and let’s check out some more dukes. show less

Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5 Stars
Series: Merry Spinsters, Charming Rogues #1
Publication Date: 2/25/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 266

While this is not this author’s first book, it is the first book I’ve read by her. I enjoyed the read and am thoroughly looking forward to the next book in the series – but, unfortunately, we won’t get it for another year. The book was witty and humorous, but I didn’t ‘feel’ that strong attraction between the two main characters after they met show more face-to-face. Their letters definitely showed a connection, but it didn’t seem to carry through once they met – we were told it was there, but somehow, I just didn’t feel it. Golly – much of what I’ve just said sounds a bit negative, so, let me say again – I really enjoyed the read and will definitely read the next one.

Lady Ludmilla Windmere is a spinster at twenty-eight and believes herself to be the ugly duckling of the spectacularly attractive Windmere family. That belief was fostered by an unfortunate event that caused her to leave London during her first season and she hasn’t been back in the last ten years. Three years ago, she wrote a congratulatory letter to a friend, but was unaware the friend had moved. The letter she wrote was entertaining and witty – and gendered a response from the person who now lives at the residence. The reply Lady Ludmilla received was also witty and entertaining, so the two of them continued to correspond even though it turned out that the other person was a male and it was totally improper for them to write to each other. They don’t even know each other’s real names – she is Lu and he is Addy.

Adrian, Viscount Addington, is London’s most outstanding rake. He’s charming, witty, and the ladies fawn over him. Thanks to an experience in his teens, he has become an excellent actor and he only shows the world what he wants them to see. That persona isn’t the real him – but it is what everyone believes of him. The only person he trusts is his cousin Adam – because Adam is the only one in his family who stood by him when he needed it most.

Lu and Addy are each reluctant to meet the other because their friendship has become special to each of them and they are afraid actually meeting will spoil that. Yet, each is desperately curious about the other. They begin a dance around each other – enlisting the help of Adam and Ludmilla’s sister Juliet. With mishaps, mixups, and a bit of misleading each other, can they get together and find their HEA? You’ll just need to read the book to see.

I can certainly recommend this book as a fun and entertaining read. There are what I think are historical inaccuracies – as in Ludmilla purchasing and owning property in her own name. I don’t believe that was acceptable at the time – but I could be wrong there. What did keep throwing me out of the story though – was the use of the phrase ‘hell rake’. It could be a perfectly acceptable phrase for the time, but I have never seen it in the hundreds of historical romance books I’ve read. I’ve always seen the term ‘rakehell’, so when I see ‘hell rake’, it immediately sets my mind off wondering whether that is actually correct or not.

Regardless of owning property and hell rakes, I enjoyed the read and I hope you will as well. I’m looking forward to the next book, which I believe is titled Miss Ava’s Scandalous Secret.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

Henry is 34.
Henry had a younger brother who died at 14. Shortly afterwards, Henry’s sister Arabella was born.

Lucy went to school with Arabella. They shared a room and were best friends, even grew as close as sisters.
Lucy is 28.

How old is Arabella?

And that’s how stupid this book was.