Series: Rogues to Lovers, #1
Traits & Tropes: class difference; enemies to lovers; working heroine
Publication Date: 12.28.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Kent, England, 1814
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 4/5
Orphaned at a young age, Hazel Lively learned to cope by seeking refuge in books and keeping her feelings hidden beneath a tough exterior. Now she has opened the school she always dreamed of in a picturesque seaside resort town in the hopes that well-to-do families who spend their summers there will entrust her with the education of their daughters. The more wealthy patrons she attracts, the more orphans she’ll be able to take in. Hazel just has to keep her reputation pristine and work on raising those funds, which should all be doable, if she could stop thinking about the all too handsome earl who has just enrolled his niece at her school.
Gabriel Beckett, the Earl of Bladenton, is looking for a place for his teenage niece since she’s already been expelled from two boarding schools and is very near to frightening away the lady he is trying to court. Blade hopes to enroll his niece at Bellehaven Academy and head back to London. He just has to charm the mistress into taking her on.
With the earl agreeing to pay a much larger than usual sum for tuition, Hazel can hardly decline to accept his niece, but she stipulates that he must come to visit the girl every other week. Blade quickly comes to realize that Hazel hides quite a lot beneath her buttoned-up persona and their verbal bantering leads to an undeniable flirtation that soon blooms into something much more serious. But when their passion becomes a threat to Hazel’s school and Blade’s fragile heart, it seems they will be forced to go their separate ways.
This book was unexpectedly fun for me. Yes, there was a bit of angst and a very convincing villain, but it was glaringly obvious that Blade and Hazel were meant to be together, and nothing was going to keep that from happening. I loved that both Blade and Hazel had issues to work through and underwent a good amount of character development that ultimately brought them together. They were both leery of being hurt but in the end they each wanted the same thing. I really enjoyed how they healed each other and how each worked toward the happiness of the other. I loved that Hazel wanted love and a family and refused to settle for anything less, but I especially loved that she had the courage to be open about that with Blade and to show him that he wasn’t as damaged as he’d thought and was indeed capable of love himself. Sure, both Blade and Hazel got in the way of their own happiness a time or two, but for some reason I was willing to forgive them for it, probably thanks to the maturity of their dealings with each other and that surety I kept feeling that they absolutely had to wind up together. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and its setting, and I’m looking forward to more installments in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3962645807
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2878343818
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