Sophie Irwin

With both parents gone and the massive debt left by her gambling father looming over her, Kitty finds herself responsible for her four younger sisters, all of whom – including herself – will be without even a home to call their own in just a few short months. And so she decides to travel to London for the season in search of a wealthy husband, all thoughts of a love match for herself abandoned as absurdly unrealistic. She quickly finds a likely target in a bungling-but-kindly second son in a landed gentry family, but finds an obstacle in the older brother, Lord Radcliffe. She soon strikes a deal with the lord, agreeing to leave his younger brother alone in exchange for help navigating a society of which she is sorely lacking in understanding. You can guess the results.

A fun and happy entry in the genre. The characters are instantly likable and the story unfolds with nice pacing and just the right amount of conflict.… (altro)

Recommended: YES!
For lots of laughter, for a delicious take on the regency husband-catching story, for a romance you can cheer for, for dramatic scenes full of tension (sexual and dangerous!)

Thoughts:
Y’all, this book was so good that when I finished it, I wanted to turn back to page one and start it over again immediately. I very nearly did, but I felt like that might be too ridiculous. The first read gave me the pleasure of discovering everything that happened, and I feel like my ensuing second-and-beyond reads will give me the pleasure of anticipating my favorite moments all over again. 🥰

The plot is pretty familiar regency, with a struggling family of girls/young women who need to marry rich to get money to live on (as that’s basically the only option for the time). There are definitely a lot of scenes and moments that lean into that common plotline, most notably in the fact that our leading lady is a kind of buck-the-system woman who goes her own way and is different, bolder than the usual members of the tonne. I’m all for that, so no shade there!

Where it differs, though, is in the specific scenarios they find themselves in, and the way some of the tropes and expectations are turned on their head. I found it super refreshing and really fun to be caught off guard by the way the story was executed!

I thoroughly loved both romantic leads, too. Getting chapters from each of their perspectives (though mostly Kitty’s) really helped with that as I could enjoy hearing each of their thoughts on an interaction and delight in seeing them fall for each other. This is a bit enemies-to-lovers (with some lowkey blackmail?) and I adored it so much. The romance is very sweet, and in keeping with the style of the genre, not a lot of physicality to it. It’s all about the T E N S I O N, babyyy!

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review!… (altro)