📖 Book Review ~ The Widow and the Rake by Sarah Mallory

17 September 2026

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

After an unhappy marriage Fay Bellington is now content to live a quiet life in Harrogate, until she discovers her beloved niece is in dire trouble. Fay goes to London and seeks help from a childhood friend who is now Viscount Winterburne. But Anthony Doune is no longer the lanky boy she remembers – he is now tall, dark and incredibly attractive…

📖 Book Review

When she learns that her teenage niece is in trouble Fay Bellington leaves her quiet life in Harrogate and travels to London to enlist the help of a childhood friend with whom she has had little contact with since her own marriage and subsequent widowhood. Anthony Doune is everything Fay remembers from her time spent with him at her childhood home however, she is little prepared for the effect that meeting him again will have on her now that they are both mature adults. Moody, dark and mysterious Anthony Doune is everything that Fay’s deceased husband wasn’t and whilst the attraction between them is obvious and not unwelcome, the only problem is that neither of them wants to commit to a relationship especially when they are seeking dangerous people who are determined to do Fay’s niece irreparable harm.

The Widow and the Rake is a lovely friends-to-to lovers romance which has all the hallmarks of this author’s usual fine attention to historical detail whilst at the same time keeping the human interest very much at the forefront of the story. The Regency period once again comes alive, from the excitement of gaming salons, to romantic evening soirées, we stroll arm in arm with the great, and the no-so-good, of London society whilst at the same time observing from the sidelines a sensual love story developing between two lovely characters who are infinitely right for each other. The twists and turns along the way are exciting and the will they, won’t they element of Fay and Tony’s relationship kept me turning the pages, so that I read the story in one glorious sitting.

About the Author

Sarah Mallory was born in the West Country and grew up with a love of books and history. She has had over 40 historical novels published and won the Rona Rose Award from the Romantic Novelists Association in 2012 and 2013.

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Twitter @SarahMRomance

BlueSky @sarahmallory.bsky.social

 

📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ Reputation by Lex Croucher

On Hist Fic Saturday 

Let's go back to ...Regency England

Bonnier Books UK
8 July 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Regency just got a little more rebellious...

Abandoned by her parents in favour of a sea view, middle-class Georgiana Ellers has moved to a new town to live with her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull dinner party she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy socialite and enchanting member of the in-crowd.

Through Frances and her friends Georgiana is introduced to a new world of wild parties, drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with strangely alluring hands, and the sparkling upper echelons of Regency society.

But high society isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and the price of entry might be more than Georgiana is willing to pay . . .

 📖 My Thoughts...

Georgiana Ellers is dying of ennui when she meets the effervescent, and fabulously wealthy, Frances Campbell at a dreadfully, dull soiree. From their first meeting, a lively friendship develops between the teenagers which launches Georgiana into a whole new strata of society, for, it would seem, that Frances and her acquaintances care nothing about social niceties nor do they feel the need to be restricted by the bounds of what polite society expects from young ladies and gentlemen of the Regency upper classes.

Reputation is a lively read and races along at full pelt and there's never a dull moment as Georgiana gets drawn further and further into a risqué world of raucous behaviour, drugs, and copious amounts of alcohol. Those who love Regency romances, with an added bit of spice, will be immediately drawn into the story which brings the Regency world, with all of its stifling social restrictions, to life in a fun and very entertaining way.

Those who enjoyed watching Bridgerton on TV will find much to enjoy in this entertaining coming of age story. Jane Austen it certainly isn't but if you want a fun romp through a very different Regency world then I'm sure Reputation will appeal to your sense of fun.

About the Author

Lex Croucher is a writer, producer and You Tuber based in London, with over 100,000 followers across her social media platforms.

Twitter/lnsta: @lexcanroar

Youtube: /lexcroucher

Review ~ The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Piatkus
20 November 2018

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Number One New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn returns to the world of the Bridgertons with the third novel in her latest series

My thoughts about it..

When Poppy Bridgerton is abducted by pirates, she does not expect to find herself held against her will on a ship heading for the high seas and bound for Lisbon. The dashing Captain Andrew James Rokesby, is equally horrified when he finds Poppy is holed up in his quarters and although the gradual realisation of who she is takes him by surprise, he cannot allow any sentiment to get in the way of his mission. That the enigmatic captain has his own secrets is obvious from the start and yet, his instant rapport with the intrepid Poppy fills the story with a delicious sense of  dangerous adventure and illicit passion.

The author does this type of Regency romance/adventure really well and those who have followed the Rokesby series from the beginning will find much to enjoy in this third book. There is a nice sense of continuity, with references to some of the characters we have met before in books one and two of the series and yet,  for readers who are new to this author's work, this continuation can be read easily as a stand-alone as the plot is very easy to follow and the reference to previous characters are well explained within the context of the story.

I read The Other Miss Bridgerton over the space a couple of afternoons. The story has a nice blend of historical adventure, passion and excitement, everything, in fact, that I have come to expect from this talented author’s writing.

About the Author

by permission of the author

Julia Quinn started writing her first book one month after finishing college and has been tapping away at her keyboard ever since. She is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe colleges and lives with her family in Colorado.

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