Series: Matchmaking Chronicles, #1
Traits & Tropes: widowed heroine; working heroine; starched, socially awkward hero; grumpy/sunshine; forbidden romance
Publication Date: 03.08.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; England
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 5/5
Since the death of her husband shortly after the marriage, Mrs. Juno Langton has found herself in the unique occupation of refinement tutor, helping young ladies prepare themselves for the London season and finding suitable matches. She is almost always cheerful, even with the most difficult of charges, but when she’s faced with matching her most difficult charge yet with a duke at a house party, Juno has met her most challenging task yet. The duke is rigid and unsmiling, if devastatingly handsome, and Juno’s charge is steadfastly unwilling to make any effort to get to know him.
Alexander, the Duke of Warrington, Dare to those who know him, loathes spending time in society and finds most people intolerable. He has eschewed the London season but gives in to his mother’s suggestion that he attend this house party to meet a young lady who could be his perfect duchess. However, he finds himself more provoked by the lady’s companion and her sunny nature. Dare soon goes from feeling irritation at her frequent smiles to responding with rare smiles of his own. He’s meant to be considering the young lady, not the companion, for his wife, but he soon begins to rethink his options.
This was such a fun, upbeat novella. The grumpy/sunshine trope was very well done here with an older heroine who truly was mature in her approach to relationships, not just with the hero but with other supporting characters as well. I’m also a complete sucker for a house party setting so that combined with the steam made this book a can’t miss read for me. Besides the well-developed tension and connection between the MCs here, I was also impressed by how much character development we get, especially from the hero, in such a short book. Dare is socially awkward and uptight, unable to handle changes to his plans, while Juno is happy-go-lucky and always smiling. Over the course of the book, he goes from finding her cheerfulness irritating to needing her like air and I loved seeing that grow as he changed and came out of his shell with her. I also liked the fact that she never tried to change him, even though he was rather difficult and had things he needed to work on. Rather, he changed because he wanted to be better for her. In one scene earlier on in the book Juno even accuses Dare of being incapable of deep emotional connection with anyone when he doesn’t make a connection with her young charge. Dare boldly corrects Juno’s misapprehension by saying he is indeed capable of feeling such a connection and that he feels it for her. I just adored his bluntness and how he was able to set the ever-prepared-for-anything Juno on the back foot, but in a good way, with his awkward charm. Add in the slight element of the forbidden and a lack of time for any annoying plot devices (such as the dreaded third act separation) to be deployed and this was a winning story for me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/7644167
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4556712403
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