Entertaining, intelligent, and emotionally rewarding.
Another sweet—and steamy—historical romance from the author of The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics (2019).
When artist Agatha Griffin discovers that a swarm of bees has made itself at home in her workshop, she follows her mother-in-law’s advice and seeks the help of Penelope Flood. The beekeeper convinces the printmaker to let her move the colony to a skep behind the shop, and a correspondence that begins with a brief discussion of the colony’s honey production soon turns more intimate. Penelope is warm and outgoing. Agatha is more inclined to be reserved, but Penelope’s kindness helps her realize that she is—three years after her husband’s death—terribly lonely. Given the genre, it is inevitable that these two will fall in love, but Waite doesn’t rush her protagonists. At first, Agatha knows only that Penelope is married to a sailor who is seldom ashore. Penelope only knows that Agatha loved her husband. It takes time and trust for them to reveal their true feelings and desires to each other. It’s a real pleasure watching this friendship between two women in middle age blossom and evolve into a passionate attachment. Waite wove politics into the first installment of her Feminine Pursuits series, and she is even more explicit here. Agatha and Penelope meet just as the House of Lords is about to put Queen Caroline on trial for adultery, an event that exposed several fault lines in British society and marked a turning point for the press. Agatha faces some difficult choices as she decides how radical she wants to be in choosing what to print, and Penelope is compelled to examine loyalties and relationships that cut across classes. This is a richly layered novel, with much to recommend it to readers who don’t typically read historical romance.
Entertaining, intelligent, and emotionally rewarding.Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-293182-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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A fast-paced Victorian romance packed with as much criminality as chemistry.
Sparks fly at Scotland Yard.
Once again, Miss Allie Prince has been left behind. Her adventurous siblings are off on a quest, leaving her to run their antiquities shop, Princes of London. Just as she accepts that she’s in for a few boring and lonely weeks, however, life takes an exciting turn when she pops across the street to the coffeehouse and overhears what sounds like a plot to steal the Crown Jewels. She’s so convinced that something is wrong that she heads to Scotland Yard, where she’s met by DI Benedict Drake, who is “distractingly appealing” and seems to take her somewhat seriously, which is a welcome change. Unbeknownst to her, Drake is in the midst of a chilling cat-and-mouse game with a dangerous criminal, and he dismisses her without agreeing to look into the matter further. Despite his heavy workload, though, he finds he can’t stop thinking about either Allie or the potential criminal conspiracy she’s reported. It’s not long before he heads to the coffeehouse in question to set up some minor surveillance, just in case, and they meet again. Despite Drake’s attempts to keep her from getting involved, Allie’s instincts keep leading her into the middle of the fray, and as the case gets more intense, so does their connection. Historical romance fans who like a healthy amount of suspense with their stories will enjoy the first volume in Carlyle’s new Princes of London series, especially because, despite the title, this is an outside-the-ton story with no need for society drama to liven it up. Both Allie and Drake are well-drawn characters, and though they fall for each other perhaps too quickly, their mutual respect is beautifully portrayed. The conclusion of the mystery isn’t terribly satisfying, but the happy ending more than makes up for it.
A fast-paced Victorian romance packed with as much criminality as chemistry.Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780063347342
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A bumpkin duke and a young woman belatedly acquiring a gentlewoman’s education make for an entertaining love story.
When a Regency duke would rather feed blancmange to his prize pig than pay court to prospective brides, it’s fortunate that the girl next door also likes pigs.
Anthony Farr, Duke of Radcliffe survived an unhappy first marriage and is deathly afraid of marrying again. He would rather spend his days pottering about on his farm and skipping stones on the lake with his 8-year-old son, Wakefield. But when a poor relation of the Penhallow family arrives in the neighborhood, she quickly becomes friends with both Anthony and Wakefield. Where Anthony is simple and even childlike, Jane Kent is just uneducated and still suffering from the traumas of spending her early life in poverty. In their first encounter, afternoon tea in the company of Jane’s relatives turns into a fierce competition. Jane and Anthony are both determined to devour more food than the other—all while maintaining a polite facade. It’s the first of many deftly funny scenes in the novel, although some of the jokes become a little repetitive, such as Wakefield’s frequent mispronunciations of long words. The dialogue, too, is both funny and a little tiresome, with long conversations that don’t significantly advance the plot. But the book has other strengths that set it apart from typical Regency romances. It’s body-positive. There are several scenes where Jane, Anthony, and Wakefield demolish decadent food. There’s also a little light sadomasochism, which feels surprising since the main characters are otherwise so childlike. And it's a nice portrait of what courtship is like for a dedicated single parent. The child and his needs are central to the love story.
A bumpkin duke and a young woman belatedly acquiring a gentlewoman’s education make for an entertaining love story.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-285237-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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