Series: Daring Ladies, #1
Traits & Tropes: hidden identity; titled hero; one night stand; second son; unexpected inheritance
Publication Date: 10.18.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London/Hertfordshire, England, 1817
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 3/5
Ana Gardner wants one night of passion before her approaching thirtieth birthday. She’s been living under an assumed name and working as a chaperone since a scandal ruined her family name ten years ago, so wearing a mask and assuming another persona for a night at the Silver Chalice, a high-end brothel, is no hardship.
Oliver Bedford, the Earl of Drake, has no interest in debauchery and is only at the Silver Chalice to mollify his late brother’s friends. But everything changes when he catches sight of Lady Scarlet. One night with her isn’t enough so he sets out to learn her true identity.
When Oliver arrives at her employer’s home, Ana is appalled to learn the identity of her lover. Oliver’s father is the man responsible for her family’s ruin and her father’s subsequent suicide and now Oliver is intent on courting her charge.
Oliver hasn’t been interested in any of the debutantes he’s met, but he’s very much interested in the chaperone, especially once he realizes she is the Lady Scarlet he’s been searching for. She says she wants nothing to do with him, but her actions say otherwise. Oliver is persistent in getting what he wants and that is Ana, but he has to earn her trust to make that happen.
This book wasn’t as strong for me as it could’ve been. It took me a long time to warm up to Oliver as he just came off initially as entitled and a bit sleazy. He’s supposed to be so much better than his wastrel brother and yet, he essentially makes Ana the same proposal of an affair that his brother did, just without the money. He doesn’t really consider, at least not for some time, who Ana is beyond being a companion. It also never made sense to me that Oliver looked for the baron’s daughter and could never find her. with her brother at Eton, presumably still using the baron’s name, I was left wondering why Oliver couldn’t use the younger brother to find the older sister. Oliver’s grandmother’s heavy-handed meddling was also a bit frustrating for me, but I liked that he stood up for himself to her and that she was ultimately the one to make him get his head on straight and see sense. I also felt like it took Ana too long to confide in Oliver, though I did understand her hesitation, and I didn’t think his reaction to her truth made much sense. I appreciated how quickly things were resolved in the end, although I wasn’t completely happy with some of the characters’ decisions. The inner monologues both Ana and Oliver indulged in detailing the reasons they could never be together seemed to be repeated ad nauseum and were fairly easily surmounted challenges in the first place, so this got very repetitive rather quickly.
Despite these issues, I still couldn’t help but root for this couple. I’m very interested in the character of the duke and looking forward to reading his story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/757703525
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5024529405
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