August Faulkner, the twelfth Duke of Holloway is a known ladies man and ruthless business man. Very few people know how extensive his holdings actually are, though. He’s just bought the Haverhall School for Young Ladies and is planning a trip to Dover to persuade the current Baron Strathmore to sell the family’s struggling shipping company to him for a large sum as well. Then he discovers that Lady Anne, his beloved younger sister, has run away to spend the summer with the Haverhall School’s […]
Misleading title and cover, good novella
Lady Charlotte Beaumont has been overlooked and ignored by her family for her entire life. Generally isolated at a remote country estate, she’s had the opportunity to hone her artistic skills, way past the bland watercolours ladies of her station are normally allowed to paint. She’s also become quite a talented forger, and tries to use her skills to negotiate a deal with the infamous King of the London Underworld. He acknowledges her skill, but also calls her bluff. Nevertheless impressed, he agrees to help […]
Treasure hunting and falling in love in Regency England
3.5 stars Heath Hextall has made his fortune in trade, but has inherited an earldom after a distant relative died, and now feels that it’s his duty to to find a nice, well-bred and quietly competent woman to be his wife, to help him keep his life and household orderly. He asks his good friend, the Duke of Worth to help him find a suitable candidate. Lady Josephine “Joss” Somerhall, the Duke of Worth’s younger sister, is back from an extended stay abroad and while […]
Living your dream
This novella by Kelly Bowen is #3.5 in her Season for Scandal series and it’s a wonderful short tale of drama and love and living your dream. Lady Charlotte Beaumont is the daughter of an earl, but she’s been largely ignored by her parents for her whole life. She’s not conventionally pretty, and wasn’t considered to be destined for marriage. And while the loneliness of her life was difficult, she has spent the time on her own learning to paint. She has a natural talent […]
“You also have a reputation as an assassin.” she said. “Mmmm. It’a a wonder I have time to eat breakfast with all I do.”
3.5 stars Lady Angelique Archer is desperate for money and needs to make sure that no one in polite society is aware of it. Lucky for her, she is mathematical genius who can do huge amounts of sums in her head and count cards from more than one deck at a time. She’s been using her brilliant mind to win substantial amounts of money at vingt-et-un-table in the gaming club of Alexander Lavoie, doing her very best to stay unnoticed to everyone. She needs the […]
A historical romance with a reluctant duke and a sharp-shooter
4.5 stars Miss Elise DeVries is a sometime stage actress, sometime scandal fixer, working as one of the chief agents in the company of Chagarre and Associates, an exclusive firm working clandestinely for the upper classes. They can fix or bury pretty much any scandal there is, provided a high enough payment is offered. Elise is a master of disguise, used to wearing a multitude of faces, nearly always playing a part. Only with her fellow associates, Miss Ivory Moore, also known as the Duchess […]