Christina Britton

How wonderful to find a book with a hero that you absolutely adore from the first page to the last. He was just perfect. I loved him in the last book, A Good Duke Is Hard to Find, and that just increased with this book. He is the loveliest, most honorable, steadfast, gentleman you could want to meet. We should all have the opportunity to know a Quincy at least once in our lifetime. I loved Clara as well, but she did get on my nerves after a while because she just needed to let go long before show more she did. Anyway, the book is wonderfully delivered, the story is compelling, all of the characters are delightful, and the epilogue is to-die-for. Definitely an excellent read and even though it is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.

We met and loved Lady Clara Ashford in the first book, and we learned much of her backstory. We also learn that backstory in this book, but in more detail than before. Because of her past, Clara has decided to never marry – and she is very, very, very adamant about that. No matter how much she might be attracted to Quincy, she’ll never let her heart belong to him and even if it did, she’d never marry him. Clara’s life is a bit of a conundrum at the moment because she doesn’t know where she belongs anymore nor does she know where her future lies. She’s spent her entire life – since the age of nine, taking care of her family – being a mother to her younger siblings and acting as hostess and then caregiver for her father. Now that her father and her brother have died and her sister is marrying in a few weeks, she wonders where that will leave her. She’s trying desperately to find a place for herself – to be helpful – to be of use. She needs to be useful. Her plan is to stay with her cousin, who inherited her father’s title, but over the weeks leading up to her sister’s wedding, she finds she isn’t really needed by any of them. She cannot marry because of her past – so what is left for her?

When we last saw Quincy Nesbitt, he was getting ready to board a ship to head back to America where he intended to sell off his remaining business and begin the travels that he and his father had dreamed of. On a whim, his first stop is back in England where he intends to visit with his friend and former partner, Peter Ashford, the new Duke of Dane. Little does he know what he’ll be walking into with his ‘real’ family. Oh! My! Goodness! Quincy is actually the fourth son of the Duke of Reigate – and he ran away from home at the age of fourteen when his father died. His mother despised him and his older brothers didn’t care for him either – so, when he overheard his mother planning to send him into the Navy, he gathered his courage and ran away. Now, when he goes to his old home to say a forever goodbye to his mother and brothers, he gets shocking news. News that can/will change his entire future.

Clara and Quincy have been attracted to each other from the moment they met, but neither would ever act upon it because they each had their futures planned. Now, a year later, Quincy has returned and they are thrown together more and more. Clara is wonderful at assuaging Quincy’s anger and agitation at the changes thrust upon him – and he treats her with such care and gentleness. It is delightful to see these two wounded souls help each other through upsetting and troubling times. Clara always leapt to Quincy’s defense and Quincy did all he could to bring Clara out of her shell where she could find joy in life again. They are absolutely perfect for each other and I enjoyed watching them grow into their HEA.

As I mentioned earlier, the Epilogue was absolutely perfect. Set several years into the future, it showed perfectly how their love had grown and flourished. I was left with a question though – whatever happened to the nasty duchess? No mention of her after her last departure from James’ home. I REALLY wanted to know that Quincy had exacted revenge of some sort – even if it was just moving her to a tiny dower house on some remote property.

I can definitely recommend this book and I’ll tell you this author is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

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

A Good Duke is Hard to Find was a great read with an original concept that brought something new to the historical romance and Regency romance genres.

Miss Lenora Hartley, despite her beauty and gentle breeding, has suffered the embarrassment of being left at the alter (or well before it) no less than three times - three times too many for her coldly distant father. To avoid yet another scandal, Lenora and her lifelong friend, Margery, return to the Isle of Synne to await her newest suitor show more per her father’s edict. Lenora intends to spend her time on the Isle reconnecting with Margery’s high-spirited grandmother, Lady Tesh, and making peace with the memories of her first fiancé who met an untimely death there. She has no reason to suspect that this visit would go anything less than according to plan, however, fate has other things in store.

Enter Mr. Peter Ashford, reluctant heir to the man who turned himself and his sick mother away at the tender age of thirteen. After spending the last thirteen years in America bitterly swearing revenge for his mother’s death, Peter has returned to the Isle to see his debts paid and his vengeance come to fruition. He never expected to meet his match in Lenora and certainly never thought that his head could be turned from the course he’d been pursuing for over a decade. As their longing grows for one another, Lenora and Peter must decide whether to linger in the past or look forward to the future.

I loved Lenora and Peter together. Theirs was an instant attraction, although they both denied it. But once they got together – fireworks. Both characters suffered their own tragedies and heartaches. Both characters had to learn how to live again. I enjoyed seeing them get their happily ever after. Definitely recommend!

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review show less

This story sucks you in from the opening in 1808 and holds you prisoner through the main body thirteen years later. I have been anticipating the enigmatic Seraphina’s story since the beginning of the series, and it was worth the wait. Of all of the Oddments (the name a group of friends bestowed upon themselves), Seraphina was the one who seemed to hold the deepest, darkest secrets. Turns out that was true. Finally, we learn all of Seraphina’s secrets – and goodness – there are some show more doozies in there. After you learn of all she endured, you’ll wonder at the strong, resilient woman she became. However, I believe that strength and resilience was already a part of her makeup or she would never have been able to endure and overcome all she did.

Lady Seraphina Trew, daughter of the Earl of Farrow, had the temerity to fall in love with, and secretly marry, a boy who worked in her father’s stables, Iain MacInnes. Seraphina never cared about the difference in their status – she just loved Iain beyond measure – until he betrayed her. Not only did that break her heart and soul, it cost her thirteen years of terror, hiding, doing unspeakable things, and protecting her sisters to her own personal detriment.

Iain MacInnes loved Seraphina Trew beyond measure – until she betrayed him in a most unconscionable way. Somehow, he’d always known that she couldn’t really love him because he was so far beneath her. Iain couldn’t punish Seraphina for that betrayal, he still loved her – always would – but he could take revenge on the pompous aristocrats of her class. And he did – over and over – he outmaneuvered them at cards and any other way he could and amassed their estates and a fortune to boot. Iain became a very wealthy man.

Seraphina, now known as Seraphina Athwart, has a comfortable life on the Isle of Synne. She and her two sisters own the Quayside Circulating Library where they are finally settled and happy. Until a very bitter Iain shows up looking for a divorce from her. She has no choice but to go with him to Scotland for the divorce.

Iain, now the Duke of Balgair, has recently learned that his dead wife is not dead at all. Bitter pain and resentment drive him to look for her for over a year until he finally finds her. He’ll drag her back to Scotland to prove she is alive – and to get the divorce he wants.

Goodness – what a read! Seraphina has intrigued me since the first book and Iain, WOW! Just WOW. I adored them as a couple and I loved seeing them open up during that road trip and discover what really happened to them all those years ago. I love Iain’s compassion and caring and his ready acceptance that he still loved Seraphina and wanted her to continue as his wife. What I didn’t love was that Seraphina held on to her determination to have the divorce and be done with Iain for much too long. What I would have rather seen was her continuing as his wife and the two of them exacting revenge on her father. That didn’t happen! After all he cost them, after all of the cruelty, he didn’t really get any punishment at all. Anyway, I still loved the book, but I didn’t give it 5-stars because I hated to see her father walk away totally unscathed.

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

I’m rounding up half a star because this has so many of my favorite tropes. Insecure, scarred heroine, secret deal with the brother that thrusts the hero and heroine together, Regency Regina George, all the good misunderstandings and angst. I was worried at first because earlier in the book, the hero is pretty much just rude and not very nice to the heroine, and she starts to fall for him before I felt like she had good reason to. He pushes her a lot, “for her own good,” and she seems show more to kind of chase him. Later on, the chase is to the point that the story becomes her owing him an apology for not having enough faith in him, when I don’t think he groveled nearly enough for his initial deception, and he hadn’t really helped her heal so much as pissed her off so she wanted to prove him wrong. I was feeling disappointed, but then at the end the old misunderstanding and angst rear their head for the win, forcing the hero to acknowledge that his behavior caused most of the problems between the couple and sends him chasing back after her for a proper grovel. A satisfying read in the end! I like this series! show less