Series: A Lady's Guide, #3
Traits & Tropes: fake relationship; titled hero; class difference; mystery
Publication Date: 03.28.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; London, England, 1867
Heat Level: 1
Rating: 5 stars
Miss Poppy Delamere has been living a fabricated life for the past two years since she fled her family and established herself in London as secretary Flora Deaver. But now her younger sister has been accused of murder and Poppy must return to help her. Unfortunately, an unexpected and unwelcome interference threatens to derail her travels.
Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, knows Poppy doesn’t particularly like him but he won’t abandon her when she so clearly needs help. Seeing that they could help one another he proposes that they present themselves as a betrothed couple. This will lend Poppy and her sister the weight of the dukedom and give Langham some protection from the eager young misses his grandmother has lined up for him as marriage prospects.
But as their act continues, Poppy and Joshua both begin to see one another for who they truly are, and their engagement doesn’t feel like pretending. Before Joshua can propose a genuine alliance, their investigation into the murder reveals much more than they’d anticipated and forces them to set their feelings aside until they’ve apprehended the true villain.
I’ve had a rather long streak of three-star reads this month, so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself so thoroughly enjoying this one. It was a real breath of fresh air for me. Poppy did give me pause at first with her snappishness towards the duke but given the stress she was under her reactions were understandable and she rapidly made up for them. I had forgotten just how much I love the fake relationship trope and it was well-utilized here. Poppy and Joshua are seemingly opposites, but they made the perfect couple, and I loved seeing them realize that as they came to know one another better. Poppy was able to really think about what she wanted and realized she wasn’t willing to give up love for the sake of independence and that Joshua would never stifle her that way, anyway. I loved that she recognized just how good of a man he was and finally gave him the credit for it that it seemed his family often failed to do. I loved seeing their feelings develop for one another as they worked to solve the mystery and clear Poppy’s sister’s name. This is probably my favorite story of this series and I look forward to perhaps another installment featuring Joshua’s brother, Adrian, and the governess.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1044026355
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5014965110
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